An Ordinary Pokemon Journey
by Ohfortheloveofpete
Summary: Sequel to A Typical Pokemon Journey. Lucy, Jake, Chris, and Ned go on an ordinary Pokemon journey following their typical journey to Kanto...or do they?
1. Chapter 1: Another Pokemon Journey

_Guess what? I'm writing a sequel to my fanfic A Typical Pokemon Journey? Surprised? I figure that I should write more stories about Pokemon. This time our four protagonists are heading towards Johto! Were you under the impression that they were going on another Pokemon journey in Kanto? Sorry, but not this time._

 **Chapter 1: Another Pokemon Journey**

Jake sat at his house. He had remembered well the Pokemon journey that he had with his friend Lucy. He had also met two other friends by the name of Chris and Ned. It had been two months since they had registered themselves in the Hall Of Fame.

Nowadays they had all gone on their separate ways, though they did visit each other from time to time. It was nice having guests at his house.

Not only that, but his father was feeling much less depressed. That was an added bonus. Unsurprisingly, he looked a lot like he did, though of course he was significantly taller. Also, his skin was a bit paler and his hair was a lighter shade of green.

Right now they were ordering pizza.

At that very moment, the doorbell rang.

Jake felt rather excited. It looked like the pizza had come. Now all he had to do was give the pizza man a check and then they would be having some hot, delicious pizza.

However, much to his surprise, it was someone he knew. Also, the pizza man was in fact a pizza girl.

"Jake, is that you?" questioned Domino. It felt funny meeting him again like this.

"Domino? I thought you were under lock and key..." questioned Jake.

"I'm on parole. They got me a job as a pizza delivery girl." stated Domino.

"I see..." nodded the former member of Team Rocket. He was rather surprised to see her after she had been arrested by Officer Jenny and her fellow police officers. She had been a very naughty girl.

"I still don't get why you would want to sell out Team Rocket to Officer Jenny, Jake...I thought that we were your friends." said Giovanni's former aide.

"Isn't it obvious? Kanto's a whole lot better now that Team Rocket is gone, especially Giovanni." remarked Jake.

"Huh? Whatever makes you say t-"

At that very moment, a Pidgey showed up.

"Aww! What an adorable Pokemon! You are so cute! Yes, you are!" exclaimed Domino.

"See what I mean?" questioned Jake.

"I suppose you have a point...but I miss Giovanni." stated the girl. He was good company.

"He WAS a dangerous criminal..." pointed out the man. Were there any crimes in Kanto that COULDN'T be traced back to him?

"True..." admitted Domino.

"Anyways..." said Jake.

Immediately, he handed Domino her check.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Domino as she left along with the Pidgey.

"Life is good..." remarked the twelve-year-old.

Now that he had entered his Pokemon in the Hall of Fame, he could simply relax.

Yet, at the same time, it felt like he didn't have anything else to do with his life. Sure, he had battled great evil and won...but he didn't really know where to go from there.

Surely there was something else that he could do.

Maybe he could go check on his friends.

As he munched on the pizza, he wondered who he should go visit first.

At that very moment, someone knocked on the door.

"Huh, who is it?" inquired Jake.

He decided to go check.

As it turned out, it was his friend Lucy. However, instead of her pink outfit, she was now dressed in a cyan outfit instead. It reminded him of crystal.

Apparently, she liked to change her outfit every now and then. Since she was rich, she likely had many different outfits.

"Good to see you again, Lucy!" exclaimed the boy.

"Did you hear the news?" inquired Lucy.

"What news?" questioned Jake.

"They're starting a brand new Pokemon League!" informed the girl.

"They are?" asked the twelve-year-old.

Curious, he decided to turn on the TV.

Sure enough, there was a lady giving out information about the league.

"Pokemon trainers, we are pleased to inform you that a new Pokemon League has started. This time it's going to be in Kanto's neighboring region, Johto." explained the news lady.

"Oh really?" inquired Jake. He had heard of Johto before, though he hadn't actually visited it.

"For those of you who are on their first Pokemon journey or wish to obtain another Pokemon, Professor Elm is currently giving out starter Pokemon at his laboratory."

"If you wish to head to Johto, you may use the Magnet Train or the S.S. Anne, depending on your preference." explained the lady.

"Hmm...which one." stated the boy.

"Maybe we could use Clefairy's spaceship!" suggested Lucy. That spaceship was really fast. They would get to Johto in no time. Of course, it wouldn't be a long trip anyway considering that Johto was Kanto's neighbouring region...but it would still be a good way to get there.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded. That seemed like a good idea.

 _Meanwhile..._

At his house, Jerry Yamaguchi had heard the news as well. Now he had the opportunity to get his revenge on those losers. He would catch more Pokemon and use them to dominate Chris and Ned. That would show them.

All he had to do now was to find a way to get to Johto.

Of course, he had also heard on the newspaper that there had been a spaceship flying across Kanto. Apparently, it regularly stopped at a young girl's mansion. She was rather rich.

Fortunately, he knew where he could find it.

Immediately, he put on a yellow jacket and took off his hat. He figured he would dress differently now that he was going to a different region.

Sure enough, his parents wondered where he was going.

"Where are you going?" asked his father.

His father had a brown mustache and was dressed in a business suit, while his mother had blonde hair and was wearing a green dress.

"I'm going on a Pokemon journey!" exclaimed Jerry.

"That's nice, dear." answered Jerry's mother. Strangely enough, his parents were not aware what a brat Jerry was. If they were, they would probably try to do something about it.

Unfortunately for Chris and Ned, he had not matured much since his last Pokemon journey, though he was a bit more devious now.

He decided that he was going to steal the spaceship and ride it for himself. That ought to be fun.

He was going to need some new Pokemon though. He had gotten tired of his old ones.

Fortunately, according to the TV, he could get help from Professor Elm. He was an old colleague of Professor Oak.

Of course, his Charmander had turned on him and had decided to be with Chris, the darn traitor. Hopefully Professor Elm had better Pokemon than Professor Oak did.

Since Cerulean City was not that far from Pallet Town, he did not have a hard time getting to Lucy's mansion.

Jerry began to snicker as he began to sneak his way towards the spaceship without anyone noticing.

For some strange reason, Lucy's parents got the feeling that someone was sneaking around their house again.

"Do you think it's another Grimer?" inquired Arthur Hisakawa.

"I don't think it's a Pokemon, honey." answered Cindy Hisakawa.

Oddly enough, the person in question didn't seem to be actually going inside the mansion. They were lurking outside. Maybe they weren't planning to rob the place?

As it turned out, they were planning to rob outside the place.

"Yes!" exclaimed Jerry as he entered the spaceship. Fortunately, Clefairy was not there to try to stop him.

Now all he had to do was head towards Johto.

New Bark Town seemed like a good place to start.

As such, he set the auto-pilot to New Bark Town.

"Like taking candy from a baby Pokemon..." remarked Jerry. Strangely enough, they had been discovered recently. Apparently, some Pokemon had offspring that were slightly different Pokemon from them.

Outside, some baby Pokemon began to cry.

Immediately, he flew away on his stolen spaceship.

 _A few minutes later..._

"Alright, we're here...wait, where's the spaceship?" asked Jake.

Lucy gasped in shock.

As it turned out, the spaceship was nowhere in sight.

"Where did your spaceship go?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy pulled out a magnifying glass to search for evidence to where it could have possibly gone.

What she found alarmed her.

As it turned out, there were footprints close to where the spaceship used to be.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy.

"What? Someone stole it?!" exclaimed Lucy.

Clefairy nodded.

"This is terrible...I hope that somebody finds it..." remarked the girl.

Jake sighed. So much for using the spaceship to get to Johto.

It looked like they were going to have to find a different way to get there.

"Any other ideas?" asked Jake.

"Well, my father got me some S.S. Anne tickets...he said that they were going from Vermillion City to Olivine." stated Lucy.

"That's nice." remarked the boy.

Immediately, they went through Diglett's Cave to get to Vermillion City.

Sure enough, the S.S. Anne was waiting for them.

However, as they discovered, the tickets in question were towards New Bark Town instead of Olivine City. Maybe they would need to get different tickets.

Alternatively, they could simply try walking there like they did across Kanto.

"By the way, I got you a new outfit." stated Lucy.

"Huh?" asked Jake.

As it turned out, it was a gold outfit. Jake thought it looked rather snazzy. It also came with a hat.

Immediately, he went to the Pokemon center to put it on. Jake noted that his new hat had a picture of a Pokeball on it. He thought that it looked rather cool.

"How do I look?" inquired the boy. Now they more resembled each other in attire even if they didn't necessarily match in personality.

"Pretty good!" exclaimed the girl.

Jake was glad that Lucy was his partner. It looked like they were going on another Pokemon journey once again.

He had already informed his father that he would be leaving and so had Lucy. They were rather excited about their newest adventure.

Since they were starting a new Pokemon journey they were starting off fresh for the time being and had left their Pokemon at Professor Oak's Lab...with the exception of their starters.

Of course, they were probably going to visit Professor Elm's Lab to get new Pokemon. There were Pokemon native to Johto that weren't residing in Kanto. They were certainly something that they would want to add to their Pokedexes.

Immediately, they stepped onboard the S.S. Anne.

Hopefully Clefairy's spaceship would turn up sooner or later. She wondered what had happened to it.

 _Meanwhile..._

Jerry smiled. New Bark Town was in sight. Now all he had to do was land the spaceship.

Currently, he was drinking his delicious soda.

Suddenly, he spilled it, short-circuiting the auto-pilot.

"Uh-oh." stated Jerry.

Unsurprisingly, the spaceship crashed.

Fortunately, he was alright.

"Dang it! I busted my ride!" bellowed the youngster.

"Are you some sort of space alien?" inquired a young boy.

"Shut up!" bellowed Jerry.

"Wah!" cried the child.

Now that he was at New Bark Town, he decided to get a Pokemon.

He decided to head to Professor Elm's Laboratory. That seemed like a good place. He had heard about it on the news, after all.

"Give me a Pokemon, and make it snappy!" bellowed Jerry.

Professor Elm was rather startled, his glasses nearly falling off his face. He was not expecting a Pokemon trainer to show up this early.

Nonetheless, he decided to do what Jerry demanded.

"C-certainly! W-hat would you like?" asked Professor Elm.

Just like Professor Oak did, he had three different Pokemon.

Jerry decided to take a look.

The first Pokemon was Chikorita. This particular Chikorita was a girl. Of course, Chikoritas looked rather feminine to begin with, even if many of them were male.

"Girls have cooties. Next!" exclaimed Jerry.

The next Pokemon was a Cyndaquil. He seemed to be rather timid. He was currently trying to ignite his back. However, all he was producing was smoke.

"This one's a weakling. Next!" bellowed Jerry.

The final Pokemon was a Totodile, and a mean-looking one at that.

"Totodile!" exclaimed the aggressive Totodile.

"Are you sure you want this one? He's rather mean..." warned Professor Elm. He was actually considering putting a different Totodile up for adoption instead.

"He looks strong! I'm taking him in!" answered Jerry.

"OK..." stated the professor. He was a bit worried about Jerry.

He put the Totodile inside a Pokeball and handed it to the boy.

"Here's a Pokedex for you." stated Professor Elm, handing a brown Pokedex to Jerry.

Jerry in fact had broken his old Pokedex after he had tossed it to the ground in a rage. Dexter was probably going to haunt him later.

Jerry smirked as he took the Pokedex for himself. Now he was ready to go on another Pokemon journey and get his revenge on the losers that went by the names of Chris and Ned.

Too bad that he didn't get to keep the spaceship though. If only he could find a way to repair it. Well, he was too lazy to do it anyways.

Immediately, he walked outside the laboratory.

Professor Elm was rather relieved that the Totodile was gone to be honest. He was worried that he was going to bite him. Not only that, but he did not get along with the Chikorita and the Cyndaquil.

Like him, they were rather relieved to see the Totodile gone.

However, they wondered what the next Totodile was going to be like.

Sure enough, Professor Elm's wife came by.

"Hello there!" exclaimed Professor Elm's wife.

As it turned out, she had a Pokeball containing the next Totodile.

"Did you bring the next Totodile?" questioned Professor Elm.

Professor Elm's wife nodded.

Suddenly, the Totodile popped out of his Pokeball.

"Totodile!" bellowed the crocodile Pokemon.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Professor Elm's wife.

"He's energetic, isn't he?" questioned Professor Elm.

Cyndaquil and Chikorita nodded in agreement. This Totodile appeared to be a bit of an oddball.

Nonetheless, they got the feeling that they would get along with him, at least until they were sent to aspiring Pokemon trainers.

Since there were no other Pokemon trainers at the moment, Professor Elm put each of the three Pokemon into Pokeballs.

Hopefully they would each find good homes.

"I think everything will turn out fine..." answered Professor Elm.

 _Meanwhile..._

At a hideout located in Mahogany Town, a group of criminals were up to no good.

However, these group of criminals were not Team Rocket, though they did have their fair share of similarities.

Currently, they were plotting to rob Professor Elm. They wanted access to his Pokedexes so that they could research Pokemon. It would be rather useful.

However, since Professor Elm wouldn't voluntarily give them Pokedexes, they figured that it would be best to try to steal the Pokedexes from underneath his nose.

They had decided to send their newest Grunt for this task.

It was a girl by the name of Sarah Ishikawa.

"Greetings Sarah Ishikawa...do I know why I called you?" asked a man sitting in a chair.

"Yes...you want me to get a Pokedex from Professor Elm, right?" inquired Sarah. Her voice was rather high-pitched, as opposed to Chris's voice which sounded fairly deep for a girl.

"Yes...good that you remembered. Make sure to download the information from the Pokedex to your phone and send it to me, alright?" asked the man.

"You got it!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Good. My Kadabra will teleport you there shortly." stated the shadowy figure.

"Here I go!" bellowed the girl.

 _And our protagonists are going on another Pokemon journey. Unfortunately, Kanto is not the only region suffering from a team of criminals._

 _And yes, I've decided to write another story featuring them. Of course, you're probably going to wonder how I'm going to follow my previous fanfic. You'll find out soon._


	2. Chapter 2: Breaking In

_In this chapter, Sarah Ishikawa is going to try to get a Pokedex from Professor Elm so that she can gather information about Pokemon and give it to the villainous team in Johto._

 _Of course, you were probably expecting Team Rocket...but Team Rocket was more or less disbanded after Giovanni was defeated (for the third time, technically) and his followers were arrested._

 _So, I decided to create some villainous OCs instead so that I could be more creative. You'll be seeing them appear as the story goes on._

 **Chapter 2: Breaking In**

Lucy and Jake stepped off of the S.S. Anne, ready to start a new adventure.

"That was a nice boat ride..." remarked Lucy. Fortunately, Clefairy had not gotten seasick...though she had gotten a paper bag from one of the sailors just in case.

"It certainly was..." answered Jake. There weren't any stowaways this time. His Blastoise was currently at Professor Oak's lab resting in her shell.

Now that they were in New Bark Town, they were ready to get their Pokedex updated so that it would include Johto Pokemon.

Professor Oak was certainly excited to hear that there were many new Pokemon living in the Johto region. Of course, there were other regions that had Pokemon waiting to be discovered. Who knows how many Pokemon there are?

"This reminds me a bit of Pallet Town." stated the girl. Apparently, Pallet Town wasn't the only place where Pokemon trainers started their Pokemon journeys.

"Well, there is another Pokemon professor living here...he doesn't seem to be there to warn Pokemon trainers of tall grass though." acknowledged Jake.

If they went into tall grass without any Pokemon, chances are they would run into trouble. It was a good thing that they kept their starters. Currently, their other Pokemon were relaxing at Professor Oak's Lab. It was a nice place for Pokemon, wasn't it?

"Yeah. You think that his laboratory is up ahead?" inquired Lucy.

"It looks that way." nodded Jake.

For some strange reason, there was a girl standing outside the lab gazing at the window. Lucy found it to be rather creepy.

This worried Clefairy as well.

Taking a closer look, Jake noticed that she was a girl around his age. She had short pink hair similar to the fact that he had short green hair. Also, she was wearing an outfit similar to a Team Rocket uniform. She was also rather slender.

For a moment, he was worried that Team Rocket had somehow returned. However, he found it to be somewhat unusual considering that Team Rocket was disbanded over two months ago.

Taking a closer look, he discovered that instead of a red R being on her outfit, there was a purple S on it instead.

He decided to talk to her.

"Hey! Why are you dressed like that?" questioned Jake.

"Huh?" asked the girl, turning around.

As it turned out, it was none other than Sarah Ishikawa, the girl who had been sent to rob Professor Elm.

"Why are you dressed like a Team Rocket Grunt?" inquired the boy. He sure hoped that she wasn't trying to scare people. Pretending to be a Team Rocket Grunt was a punishable offense...and of course, so was actually being a Team Rocket Grunt. Funny how that worked.

"Team Rocket? I'm a member of Team Shadow!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Team Shadow?" inquired Jake.

"Haven't you heard of them?" questioned the girl.

"They sound like trouble..." remarked Lucy. They seemed fairly similar to Team Rocket.

"No, I haven't. I just got to Johto...why are you part of the group?" inquired Jake.

"It seemed like everyone was part of it..." answered Sarah.

"I see..." nodded Jake.

"This girl reminds me of you..." stated Lucy.

Clefairy nodded. Jake was part of a team himself once...of course, he eventually quit being part of Team Rocket in favor of saving Lucy from Giovanni. That had paid off and he had been arrested.

Now that Jake thought of it...her outfit WAS similar to what he had worn back when he was a Team Rocket Grunt.

He decided to ask her a few questions.

"How old are you?" questioned Jake.

"Twelve." answered Sarah.

"That's my age." thought the boy.

"Where do you live?" inquired Jake.

"Goldenrod City. It's the biggest city in Johto." stated the girl.

"I live in Celadon City..." thought the former criminal. It was the biggest city in Kanto.

"Is your mother deceased?" questioned Jake.

"My father is, actually...nowadays my mother is a gambling addict." remarked Sarah.

"Are you my female clone or something?" inquired the boy.

"Gosh, we're a lot alike..." stated the girl.

"Why are you standing outside that window?" questioned Lucy.

"I actually don't remember..." said the Team Shadow Grunt.

Suddenly, Sarah lost her balance and fell down.

"Oof!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Oh dear...she hasn't mattered the art of walking, has she?" inquired Lucy.

"Maybe her mother didn't teach her how..." remarked Jake.

Sarah helped herself back to her feet. Why did that keep happening to her?

"Well, I guess we should enter Professor Elm's Lab..." stated the boy.

"The fact that she keeps staring into the window worries me..." answered Lucy.

Clefairy nodded. That was a legitimate concern. Was she plotting something?

"Don't worry about it. She can't even stand up without falling." pointed out Jake.

"True..." nodded his partner.

Immediately, they went inside the laboratory so that they could update their Pokedexes.

As it turned out, Professor Elm was on a phone call with Professor Oak.

"Salutations, Samuel! How are things going in Kanto?" inquired Professor Elm.

"Pretty good. How are things going on your end, Paul?" answered back Professor Oak.

"I think you were onto something when you started giving out Pokemon to beginning Pokemon trainers. Already many Pokemon trainers are helping me expand my research. Also, the Pokemon in question are generally behaving themselves...though as of late I have a Totodile that's very energetic." remarked the professor.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Totodile, popping out from his Pokeball.

"There he goes again! He tried to eat my lunch...however, I'm not really complaining since he's a lot better than the last Totodile I had...I'm not sure if I was treating him wrong or what...but he was a rather aggressive Totodile." noted Professor Elm as he put Totodile back in his Pokeball.

"Sounds like he's a handful." remarked Professor Oak.

"Mm-hmm. It was nice talking to you." noted Professor Elm, hanging up the phone.

"Hello, Professor!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Hello there. I take it you're here to start a Pokemon journey?" questioned the professor.

"Our second Pokemon journey, actually." answered Jake. In their first Pokemon journey, they had managed to defeat Team Rocket. Who knows what their second Pokemon journey would be like?

"Interesting...well then, hand your Pokedexes for me, will you?" inquired Professor Elm.

Jake and Lucy nodded.

Immediately, Professor Elm took them and began to update the Pokedexes.

"By the way, would you be willing to do me a favor?" inquired the professor.

"Sure, why not?" answered Lucy.

"I want you to visit a friend of mine, known as Mr. Pokemon." explained Professor Elm.

"His last name is Pokemon? That's kind of funny..." remarked Jake.

"I assure you he's quite human. He wants to give me an egg that he got from the Kimono Girls." answered the professor.

Lucy wondered who the Kimono Girls were. Maybe she could put on a kimono someday.

"Alright then." stated Jake.

"When you're done with that, you can have your choice of starter Pokemon. Here are your Pokedexes back." said the professor.

Lucy and Jake happily collected their Pokedexes.

"Good luck out there." spoke Professor Elm.

Lucy and Jake nodded as they left the laboratory.

"By the way, my wife has something for you." stated the professor.

At that very moment, Professor Elm's wife showed up. She gave them both Pokegears. They were colored blue and pink to represent Jake and Lucy respectively.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Lucy.

"You're welcome!" answered Professor Elm's wife.

Lucy and Jake happily left Professor Elm's laboratory. It was time to set out on a Pokemon adventure.

They wondered where the nearest town was. It shouldn't be too far, right?

Fortunately, there was a signpost saying "This Way To Cherrygrove City!"

Apparently, it was rather close to New Bark Town. However, according to the sign, it did not have a Pokemon gym, unlike Viridian City that had a gym that was usually closed.

"Sorry, we don't have a gym! We do have cherry pie, though!" apologized the sign.

"Mmm...cherry pie..." stated Lucy.

"Try to stay focused, Lucy." spoke Jake.

"Huh? Oh, right." nodded the girl.

Immediately, Jake and Lucy began to make their way towards Cherrygrove City.

It was not a long walk at all. Of course, it also helped that the wild Pokemon appeared to be currently relaxing. They didn't have to worry about encountering them.

Sure enough, they managed to reach the city.

"So...does Mr. Pokemon live here?" questioned Lucy.

"Well, he lives nearby." answered Jake, checking the Pokegear.

"I guess we don't have much more to go then." answered the girl. She was looking forward to getting her first Pokemon from Johto. Maybe they would be friends with her Bulbasaur.

"No, we don't." nodded the boy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the Pokemart was closed for the time being. Currently, they were getting more supplies in. It looked like they had to wait a little longer before catching wild Pokemon.

But on the lighter side, the Pokemon Center was open if they needed to heal their Pokemon. Their Pokemon were doing fine, but they were bound to get into a Pokemon battle sooner or later.

For now, they decided that they should get going. Mr. Pokemon was waiting for them.

"Let's not let Mr. Pokemon down, shall we?" asked Jake.

"Right, of course not." answered Lucy.

Currently, Clefairy was munching on a cherry pie.

"You had better have paid for that, Clefairy." stated the girl.

"Clefairy..." answered Lucy's Clefairy. If someone didn't want it to be snatched, why did they leave it outside on the windowsill?

 _Meanwhile..._

Sarah stood outside Professor Elm's laboratory. At this point, she had forgotten what she was doing.

At that very moment, Professor Elm left to take a walk. He was going outside to do some research.

However, he did not notice Sarah.

"What was I doing outside Professor Elm's lab again?" questioned Sarah.

She was reminded of what she was doing when her Pokegear went off. It was green, similar to Jake's hair.

"Hello?" inquired the girl.

"Have you gotten the Pokedex yet?" inquired Sarah's employer.

"Huh? Not yet." answered Sarah.

"Don't forget your mission." stated Sarah's boss.

"Right. Of course not!" exclaimed Sarah.

Currently, she was thinking of how they get inside the laboratory.

"There's got to be in a way to get in there somewhere..." answered the girl.

Suddenly, she lost her balance.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sarah.

She ended up crashing right through the window, scattering glass everywhere.

At Professor Elm's house upstairs, his wife thought that she heard something.

"What is it, mommy?" asked Professor Elm's son.

"I'm not sure..." answered

Fortunately, she was alright.

"Phew! That could have gone a lot worse..." answered the girl.

She then realized that she had managed to break into the laboratory.

"Alright then...which Pokedex should I take?" inquired Sarah.

She decided to take the green Pokedex. She thought that it suited her.

At that very moment, Totodile burst out of his Pokeball again. He was as excited as ever.

He quickly noticed Sarah making off with one of Professor Elm's Pokedexes.

He felt delighted. Professor Elm had informed him that a Pokemon trainer was going to pick him up and he was going to get a new home!

It looked like today was the day!

Suddenly, an alarm went off.

"Oh no! I gotta run!" exclaimed Sarah.

Naturally, she tripped and fell down when she tried to do so.

"Oof!" bellowed the girl.

Quickly, she got back to her feet and ran outside the door.

Fortunately, nobody had noticed her robbing Professor Elm, so she probably didn't have to worry about Officer Jenny for the time being.

Just in case, she went to Route 29 so that the professor wouldn't notice her.

At that very moment, her boss called her again.

"What happened? I heard the sound of what appeared to be you crashing through a window..." asked Sarah's employer.

"Yeah...I had an accident. But I'm fine. I even got the Pokedex you wanted." stated Sarah.

"Very good! Download the information from it into the Pokegear and send it to me..." answered Sarah's boss.

The Team Shadow Grunt nodded and did as she was asked.

"Did you get it?" questioned Sarah.

"Yes, we did. We should be able to find more about Pokemon shortly." nodded the man. This would be very useful for selling Pokemon later.

"I guess that's every-"

"Totodile!" exclaimed Professor Elm's Totodile, startling Sarah.

"Whoa!" bellowed the surprised girl, suddenly finding herself sitting down on the grass when she lost her balance.

"What is it?" asked her employer. Had Officer Jenny found out what she had done and had come after her? If so, he might need to hire a new Team Shadow Grunt. He has lost so many to her. It was sad...for him at least.

"I think one of Professor Elm's starter Pokemon followed me out of the lab!" exclaimed the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Oh...well, I suppose as a reward for your services, you can keep that Pokemon for yourself. I already have an idea on where to get rare Pokemon thanks to what you provided us." answered the man.

With that, her boss hung up.

"Um, hello! Is there anything you want from me?" questioned Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Totodile. He wanted her to be his Pokemon trainer.

"Oh, you want me to be your Pokemon trainer? Is that it? I've never had a Pokemon before..." answered the girl. Unsurprisingly, her mother was too lazy to get her a Pokemon for herself.

"Totodile!" exclaimed her new Totodile. If that was the case, he could be her starter Pokemon.

"Huh? You can be my starter Pokemon? I suppose you could do that if you want to..." nodded Sarah. Having a Pokemon at her side would likely be useful.

"Totodile!" cheered Sarah's Totodile. Now he could be on an adventure.

Sarah scanned Totodile with her stolen Pokedex. It had a hyperactive female voice.

"Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokemon. It likes to use its teeth to bite into things! It also has strong jaws!" exclaimed Sarah's new Pokedex.

Sure enough, Totodile was nibbling on a tree branch. It appeared that Totodile did in fact like to use his teeth.

"So, you want to head to Cherrygrove City? I suppose I should head to Mahogany Town now that I'm done with my errand..." stated Sarah.

Totodile nodded. Going to Mahogany Town sounded like fun. Maybe he could visit the Lake Of Rage!

"Shouldn't I keep you in a Pokeball?" questioned Sarah.

"Totodile..." murmured Totodile. He didn't like being kept in a Pokeball. He wanted to be outside and get some fresh air.

"Never mind then..." answered the girl.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's new Totodile. He was so glad that his new trainer understood him.

"Let's get going!" ordered Sarah.

Totodile nodded. He was so excited!

Personally, Sarah wondered if she would encounter Jake and Lucy again now that she was a Pokemon trainer herself. It was rather unexpected...but maybe now she could battle them.

That ought to be fun.

Not only that, but she could also battle her fellow Team Shadow Grunts...though of course the Team Shadow Executives were all out of her league.

She was looking forward to being a Pokemon trainer. However, she was asking herself a question.

"Why do I get the feeling that my life is going to change forever?" thought Sarah.

 _I figured I would give Jake a rival since his conflict with Team Rocket has ended...and yes, Sarah has many similarities to Jake. I thought that would be rather amusing. She won't have as much common with Jake as Ritchie does with Ash, in case you were wondering. I wanted her to be her own character._

 _Also, she's rather clumsy. I figured I would give her that trait because I figured it would be amusing. That, and I figured she would try to run away from Officer Jenny._


	3. Chapter 3: Mr Pokemon

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to visit Mr. Pokemon. On the way back, they're going to bump into Sarah...Jake is, anyway. They're going to get in a Pokemon battle._

 _Meanwhile, Professor Elm is going to find out what happened with his Totodile and one of his Pokedexes...unsurprisingly, he's going to call the police._

 **Chapter 3: Mr. Pokemon**

"So...is this where he lives?" inquired Jake.

"It looks that way..." nodded Lucy.

Since two trainers were currently battling with each other on the way to Violet City, they had decided that they should complete their errand before heading there. They certainly appeared to be competitive.

One of them apparently had a really strong Rattata.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She was feeling excited. They sure seemed to be meeting a lot of new people now that they were in the Johto region. Who would they encounter next?

Of course, considering that there was a criminal organization apparently residing in Johto, maybe she shouldn't be that excited about meeting new people. What if they wanted to steal her?

Outside, she had noticed that there were some berries growing from the trees. She was currently munching on them. They were simply delicious.

Strangely enough, they seemed to restore her HP whenever she ate them. Perhaps she should consider consuming them after a lengthy Pokemon battle. It was a good alternative to using the Pokemon Mart to get Potions.

On the way there, they had met a man that was giving out berries. Apparently, other Pokemon liked eating them too.

Also, he wasn't wearing a shirt for some strange reason. Lucy was rather ecstatic about that.

Of course, she was one of the few Pokemon that actually knew how to use man-made Pokemon items by herself. There was a reason that Lucy was impressed with how smart she was.

Lucy and Jake entered the house. Mr. Pokemon was waiting for them along with Professor Oak.

"Salutations! I'm glad to see you've made it!" exclaimed Mr. Pokemon.

"Good to see you too..." nodded Lucy.

"You're probably wanting the egg that Professor Elm requested, do you not? Well then. I think I have you want..." stated the man.

Immediately, Mr. Pokemon reached into his hat and pulled out an egg.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. That was a Pokemon egg! She had seen those before. She wondered what kind of Pokemon was going to hatch from it though. It didn't look like any sort of Pokemon egg that she had ever seen. Of course, most of the eggs that she had seen were eggs laid by Clefairies.

For some strange reason the egg appeared to have shapes on it. Did Mr. Pokemon draw them on or did it always look like that?

Now that Lucy thought of it...it wasn't Easter. Why was Mr. Pokemon giving Professor Elm an egg? It was peculiar.

Well, she decided not to question it.

"Here is your egg!" exclaimed Mr. Pokemon, hanging the egg to Lucy.

"Thank you!" cheered Lucy. Hopefully Professor Elm would be proud of them. She wondered what kind of Pokemon that Professor Elm was giving out. Since they were native to Johto instead of Kanto, they would likely be different than what Professor Oak typically gave out to Pokemon trainers.

Speaking of Professor Oak, he decided to greet them. He had a present of his own that he would like to give them. However, it wasn't another starter Pokemon...Lucy already had a Bulbasaur and Jake had a Squirtle, both of which had long evolved to their final stages since they had set out to Johto.

"Greetings! I see that you're going on another Pokemon journey! How was your journey in Kanto?" questioned Professor Oak.

"Pretty good! We heard that there's another Pokemon League now..." stated Jake. Apparently people decided that one Pokemon League was simply not enough.

"Ah yes...that would be the Silver Conference. The winners get a Silver Cup to prove they won the tournament." answered the professor.

"The silver cup? Sounds precious..." remarked Lucy. Though her father had managed to win more than a few Pokemon trophies, she had not actually earned any herself.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Clefairy. She could probably use silver to make a new spaceship, assuming that she didn't manage to find her old one. Perhaps she should have installed some security so that nobody else would break in. Back on the moon, everyone had their own spaceship so nobody stole from each other. Unfortunately, that was not the case on Earth.

"If you're going to get the Silver Cup, you're going to need badges. Eight of them, to be precise." stated Professor Oak.

"You mean like in Kanto?" inquired Jake. Kanto was clearly not the only place that had gym leaders. Once again, it looked like they were going to be traveling from city to city.

"Yes. It appears that Pokemon Leagues are rather formulaic. However, instead of at the Indigo Plateau, you'll want to go to Mt. Silver this time. It's full of high-level Pokemon so I would recommend you stay at the base where the tournament is being held. Since it's close to Victory Road you could probably train there." stated Professor Oak.

"Ah yes...Kanto and Johto are connected together, aren't they?" inquired Jake. People could travel from Mt. Silver to Victory Road if they had the Pokemon to keep them safe from the fearsome Pokemon located at Mt. Silver. Rumor has it that there were even Tyranitars at the island...and they were very powerful.

"Yes, they are. Now then, are you going to give that egg to Professor Elm?" asked the professor. Professor Elm needed it for his research. In fact, he was planning to give it to a Pokemon trainer so that he could learn more about Pokemon.

Lucy nodded. That seemed fair.

"Very good! By the way, Professor Elm wanted me to give these to you." stated Professor Oak.

Immediately, Professor Elm gave them their updated Pokedexes. Now they would be able to see information on Johto Pokemon.

"Take care now!" demanded Mr. Pokemon. He got the feeling that Lucy and Jake both had bright futures ahead of them.

"See you later!" exclaimed Lucy. It was nice meeting him...and meeting with Professor Oak again. It was funny how Professor Elm was now giving out Pokemon and Pokedexes exactly like he was.

Lucy and Jake nodded, and headed back to Cherrygrove City.

"I sure hope Professor Elm is doing alright...i doubt he had received this many visitors before." remarked Professor Oak. Kanto wasn't the only region that was full of Pokemon trainers.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." stated Mr. Pokemon.

 _Meanwhile at New Bark Town..._

Professor Elm smiled as he returned to his house/laboratory. So far his research was going good. There was a lot you could learn from Pokemon by visiting Johto, much like Professor Oak was learning much about Pokemon back at Kanto regardless of his old age.

Of course, he was a younger man than he was, but he figured that he would rather be a Pokemon researcher instead of a Pokemon trainer like his colleague used to be.

"That was a nice day of research. Now to head back home and-"

He gasped when he realized that the alarm was going off. What could have triggered it? Was it his Totodile that was always bursting out of his Pokeball? Or was it something more...sinister?

Professor Elm realized that somebody had also broken the window. Perhaps some naughty kids decided to toss stones at it? He sure hoped that their houses weren't made out of glass.

"Darn it! I'm going to have to pay for that window..." remarked Professor Elm.

He decided to look inside. Something was clearly wrong. Either that, or he needed to do something about his alarm so that he and his family could sleep at night.

Sure enough, there was.

One of the Pokedexes had been stolen, and adding to that, someone had stolen Totodile! Strangely enough, his Pokeball was still on the desk, though it had been opened recently.

"I've been robbed!" exclaimed Professor Elm. What was he going to do?

At that very moment, his wife and son climbed down the stairs, still wondering what was happening.

"What's going on, honey?" asked Professor Elm's wife.

"Somebody burst in my lab and stole from me! I think they must want my Pokemon research..." answered Professor Elm.

"This is horrible!" bellowed Veronica.

"Wait...weren't you planning to give out Pokemon and Pokedexes for free?" inquired Professor Elm's son.

"Technically, yes, Jimmy...but it's still alarming that someone broke into my lab...and I still don't know what they want with my Pokedexes and my Pokemon!" exclaimed Professor Elm.

"Oh...that makes sense." nodded Jimmy. If a criminal had access to Professor Elm's technology, then Johto might be in trouble. They would certainly know a lot more about Pokemon.

"Now that I think of it...I have been rather lax compared to the security that Samuel Oak has at his lab..." acknowledged the professor. Maybe he should have done something about that.

Of course, he didn't have nearly as many Pokemon at his lab than he did. He was just getting started on researching the many Pokemon of Johto.

"What should we do, Paulie?" inquired Veronica.

"I think we should call the police...I think they should be able to help us..." answered Professor Elm.

Veronica nodded. Now was a good time to call 9-1-1.

Hopefully they would be able to catch whoever did this. Personally he was more worried about Totodile than he was about the stolen Pokedex. What could have happened to him?

 _Meanwhile at Cherrygrove City..._

"Just a few more minutes of walking and we'll be back at New Bark Town, huh?" questioned Jake.

"I'm so glad that we're helping Professor Elm with his research!" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake nodded.

"Not only that...but we should be able to officially begin our Pokemon journey. I wonder where the first gym is going to be." stated the boy.

Suddenly, he noticed Sarah running straight towards him. She was awfully fast.

"Huh?" asked the boy.

Inevitably, Sarah crashed into him, causing them both to fall over.

"Oof!" exclaimed Jake.

"Sorry!" apologized Sarah.

"Totodile!" shouted Sarah's Totodile. Maybe his trainer should have watched where she was going.

"You alright, Jake?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. It was a good thing that Sarah didn't crash into Lucy or she might have dropped the egg that she was carrying.

"Yeah, I think so." stated Jake.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. All of a sudden he was feeling an itch for a Pokemon battle.

He began to jump up and down.

Sarah was the first to notice.

"Huh? What do you want, Totodile?" inquired Sarah. Did he want something to eat? She was under the impression that Totodile had a rather big appetite on account of his large mouth.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. He wanted to be in a Pokemon battle.

"Oh? You want to be in a Pokemon battle? Who should we fight?" questioned the girl. There were a lot of different choices, that was for certain.

Of course, it might be a bit early considering that Totodile was her only Pokemon. That would probably change once she managed to get some Pokeballs...but as it was, she only had one.

"I suppose I could do that...you bumped into me, after all." answered Jake. He hadn't battled much since he had gone back home to Celadon City after he competed at the Indigo Plateau, but it looked like he was going to be in a lot more Pokemon battles now.

"Alright then! Totodile, I choose you!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Totodile!" shouted Totodile.

"Clefairy." remarked Lucy's Clefairy. It appeared that she wasn't the only Pokemon that didn't want to be inside a Pokeball.

"Grimer, I choose you!" bellowed Jake.

"Grimer!" exclaimed Jake's Grimer. It was good to get to participate in a Pokemon battle again. It had been rather quiet in Kanto ever since Jake had finished participating in the Kanto Pokemon League.

"Grimer, use Tackle!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded, and leapt towards Totodile.

However, Totodile moved out of the way, and bit into Grimer with his teeth.

"Totodile!" bellowed Sarah's Totodile.

However, this didn't seem to hurt Grimer much since he wasn't exactly a solid Pokemon.

In retaliation, Grimer used Mud-Slap.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. Having mud in his eyes stung.

"You alright, Totodile?" questioned Sarah.

Fortunately, he was. Since he was a water type, it wasn't difficult for him to wash the mud out of his eyes. Being a specific type of Pokemon had its perks, though it also came with its own weaknesses.

That gave Sarah an idea.

"Maybe you could try using a water attack?" suggested Sarah. Now that she thought of it, Totodile was a water type. Maybe he could try using one.

Totodile nodded, and hit Grimer with a Water Gun.

"Grimer!" exclaimed Jake's Grimer, finding himself taking an unexpected bath.

"Hang in there!" instructed Jake.

Grimer nodded. He wasn't going down that easily even though he was facing a Pokemon that he had never seen before.

This time, Jake instructed Grimer to use Sludge.

He began to toss it at Totodile.

However, Totodile was quick and managed to avoid being hit.

"Use Tackle!" ordered Sarah.

Totodile nodded and lunged towards Grimer.

Likewise, Grimer headed towards Totodile to tackle him as well.

They both hit each other...

...and they both fainted simultaneously.

"Totodile..." murmured Totodile. That battle was fun while it lasted. He had managed to take down his opponent...though he also managed to take down him.

"It looks like this battle is a draw..." acknowledged Jake.

"Does this mean we both win or that we both lose?" inquired Sarah.

"Well, both of your Pokemon got experience..." answered Lucy.

Clefairy nodded. In a sense, they both won.

"Alright then..." nodded Jake. That was a rather optimistic way to look at it.

Immediately, they both went to the Pokemon Center to heal their fainted Pokemon.

They came out a few minutes later.

"I'll see you later." stated Sarah.

Jake nodded, and he and Lucy resumed their journey back to New Bark Town.

Suddenly, Totodile noticed that there was a large body of water nearby.

This made him rather excited. He simply loved swimming. He was a water type for a reason.

Immediately, he went to the water and began to swim.

"Huh? What are you doing?" asked Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Totodile. The water was rather refreshing.

"Oh, alright then. Carry on." nodded the girl.

"Totodile?" inquired Sarah's Totodile. Did Sarah want to join him?

"Huh? You want me to join you? I suppose I could probably get a bathing suit from the PokeMart..." stated Sarah. She just needed to find one that was her size.

Immediately, she went to the PokeMart to find one.

Fortunately, she did manage to find a bathing suit.

She came out a few minutes later wearing a green bikini.

"How do I look?" asked Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. She looked like she was ready for a swim.

"Here I go!" shouted the girl, diving into the water.

Sure enough, she let out a splash. As it turned out, she was now right next to Totodile.

"You ready to have some fun?" asked Totodile's Pokemon trainer.

"Totodile!" answered the crocodile Pokemon. He certainly was.

 _Meanwhile..._

Jerry wondered where Chris and Ned were. He was under the impression that they would be in Johto by now.

However, it then occurred to him that if Chris and Ned weren't around, there was nothing stopping him from doing whatever he wanted.

All of a sudden, he was feeling rather excited.

Sure enough, there was a trainer nearby holding some rare baseball cards...baseball cards that he would like to have in his possession. He could probably sell them.

That Pokemon trainer in question was a girl named Casey...who like Chris was a tomboy, though she wasn't as hot-blooded as she was. She liked the color yellow, which incidentally was what Jerry was wearing.

Suddenly, Jerry snatched the baseball cards from her hands.

"Hey!" bellowed Casey.

Jerry smirked. Nothing could stop him now that Chris and Ned weren't there! At least that was what he thought.

Jerry blew a raspberry and ran off with his stolen cards.

"This isn't fair..." stated Casey. Maybe she should switch to getting Pokemon trading cards like everyone else.

She sure hoped that someone would come along and do something...but who?

 _It looks like Professor Elm has called the police...Sarah just might be in trouble. For some strange reason they never went after the rival character in the Johto games despite coming to the lab to investigate...maybe they were busy with Team Rocket?_

 _Well, not in this fanfic. Sarah's going to be facing some police officers sooner or later, including Officer Jenny._

 _But she won't be going down that easily..._

 _In the next chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to get their Johto Pokemon. Also, Sarah is going to run into Jerry._


	4. Chapter 4: To The Lab

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to find out what happened to Professor Elm's lab...it's unfortunate that someone managed to break into his lab and steal one of his Pokemon, isn't it? Maybe he should have set up a better security system._

 **Chapter 4: To The Lab**

As soon as Lucy and Jake left Cherrygrove City, they suddenly received a phone call from Professor Elm. It seemed rather urgent.

"You need to get to my lab immediately!" exclaimed Professor Elm.

Apparently, there had been trouble at his lab.

Quickly, they began to wonder what was going on. Who exactly would want to rob Professor Elm? Was there something top-secret that he was working on?

Of course, people had attempted to rob Professor Oak in the past as well...though they hadn't been too successful. His security systems had sent them packing...or in Jessie and James' case, flying.

But apparently Professor Elm did not have those sort of security systems, did he?

"C'mon! We need to hurry!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. This was no time for a relaxing walk!

"I'm coming, Lucy!" nodded Jake, trying to keep up.

Immediately, Lucy and Jake hurried back to Professor Elm. Fortunately, they did not encounter any wild Pokemon that would impede them.

As soon as they entered the laboratory, they discovered that two police officers were inside. According to their badges, they were known as Officer Cutter and Officer Valiant respectively. Officer Cutter was white while Officer Valiant was black...and before you ask, both of them were wearing blue police officer outfits. Also, Officer Cutter was younger than Officer Valiant was.

To be honest, Jake was expecting Officer Jenny...but perhaps Officer Jenny did not have as many relatives living in Johto as she did in Kanto. On the other hand, there appeared to be as many Nurse Joys as ever. What would a Pokemon Center be without Nurse Joy? Of course, he had gotten used to the Chanseys too.

However, rumor as it that the Pokemon Centers were employing a Pokemon that was even better at nursing than a Chansey was, though due to the extra work involved in obtaining them the Chanseys were still in employment regardless. Jake wondered what kind of Pokemon that could be.

"Alright, what's the situation?" asked Officer Valiant.

"I've been robbed! Someone stole my Pokedex! And they stole my Totodile too!" exclaimed Professor Elm. This was the worst day of his career!

"That is a problem..." nodded Valiant.

"To be honest, I'm more worried about the kidnapped Pokemon than my stolen Pokedex...the criminal in question might be a bad influence on him..." acknowledged the professor.

"You're right, professor! I bet the culprit is treating him horribly!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.

 _Meanwhile in Cherrygrove City..._

"Having fun?" asked Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. He certainly was having fun.

"It sure is nice going for a swim with you..." remarked the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Totodile!" cheered Sarah's Totodile.

"What? I'm your best friend? But I haven't known you for very long..." pointed out Sarah.

"Totodile?" inquired the crocodile Pokemon. Did that mean that they couldn't be best friends?

"Oh, what the heck. You're my best friend too!" exclaimed the girl, hugging Totodile.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. This was awesome.

 _Back at Professor Elm's Lab..._

"Do you have any idea who could have done this?" inquired Officer Valiant.

"Hmm..." thought Professor Elm. Perhaps the culprit was someone that he knew...or maybe not.

Jake gasped in shock. Somehow, he knew who was behind this.

"Oh no...I should have warned Professor Elm!" exclaimed Jake.

"Huh? You know who did this?" inquired Lucy.

"It's Sarah! You saw her fight my Grimer with that Totodile, didn't you?" asked the male Pokemon trainer. All of a sudden he was feeling rather guilty about not warning Professor Elm about her earlier.

It was too late to do something about that now...unfortunately.

"You're right! It must have been her!" shouted the rich girl.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. She sure hoped that the police would be able to catch her.

At that very moment, Professor Elm noticed Jake and Lucy.

"There you are! I had to check to see if you were alright..." answered the professor.

"What made you worry about us?" inquired Jake.

"Well, according to the police officers, there were footprints leading to Cherrygrove City where you two probably were...I was worried that you had run into whoever robbed me..." stated Professor Elm.

"As a matter of fact, we did..." answered Lucy. Fortunately, neither of them were harmed, though unfortunately the criminal in question had given them the slip.

"Strangely enough, the police officers found handprints as well...I wonder why the criminal was walking around on all fours..." questioned the scientist.

Jake recalled the fact that Sarah was rather clumsy, and sweatdropped.

"We managed to deliver the Pokemon Egg, like you asked..." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy..." stated Lucy's Clefairy. If only they were there to prevent the robbery from happening. Well, there was no used crying over spilled milk...though admittedly she did love milk. At least she had tissues.

"At least that's something..." remarked Professor Elm.

"We'll let you know if we find anything..." answered Officer Valiant.

"The perpetrator is probably doing something horrible as we speak!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.

 _Meanwhile..._

Sarah stepped out of the pool and put her Team Shadow Grunt outfit back on. It had been fun while it lasted.

Likewise, Totodile dried himself off.

"That was a nice swim..." remarked Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. His trainer was a very good swimmer.

Well, it was time to head to Violet City now. They could get to Azalea Town from there, and then Goldenrod City...which incidentally was her hometown.

She heard that there was a shortcut...but for some strange reason there was a tree in the middle of the road. A tree that...moved.

It looked like she wouldn't be getting to Ecruteak City or Goldenrod that way.

On the way there, she encountered a Pokemon trainer that looked rather depressed.

"This isn't fair..." remarked Casey.

"Totodile?" inquired Sarah's Totodile. What was the matter?

"Some mean kid stole my baseball cards...they were pretty valuable baseball cards, too..." stated the baseball lover.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Totodile. They should really help her.

"Huh? You think we should help?" inquired Sarah.

Totodile nodded.

"Alright then...do you have any idea where he went?" questioned the Team Shadow Grunt.

"I heard that he's egging Mr. Pokemon's house..." stated Casey.

Sure enough, he was doing just that.

"Hey! Cut that out!" demanded Mr. Pokemon.

Jerry blew raspberries at Mr. Pokemon.

"What a naughty boy..." remarked the man.

At that very moment, Sarah approached him.

"What do you want? I'm busy!" exclaimed Jerry.

"You should give back those baseball cards you stole!" demanded Sarah.

"Never!" answered the youngster. They were simply too valuable to pass up.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. If he wasn't going to give them back, they were going to challenge him to a Pokemon battle.

"What? You think you can beat me in a Pokemon battle? You're joking...well, if you want to run home crying to your mother, that's fine by me!" bellowed Jerry.

"I don't think my mother's at home right now..." answered Sarah. Knowing her, she was probably at the Goldenrod Game Corner playing slots. There sure were a lot of prizes you could get from the casino.

Immediately, Jerry sent out his Totodile.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. It looked like Jerry had a Totodile too.

"Wait, how do I tell my Totodile apart from yours?" inquired Jerry.

Curious, Sarah decided to take a look.

She quickly noticed that while the two Totodiles were similar in appearance, they were not the same in personality. While Jerry's Totodile was aggressive, her Totodile was rather playful.

Not only that, but Jerry's Totodile was bigger and had larger fangs.

Immediately, Sarah instructed Totodile to use Tackle.

Sarah's Totodile nodded, and tackled Jerry's Totodile to the ground.

This had the side-effect of making Jerry's Totodile angry.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

In retaliation, he bit Sarah's Totodile in the arm.

"Totodile!" bellowed Sarah's Totodile. That hurt.

"You alright, Totodile?" questioned Sarah.

Sarah's Totodile nodded. Jerry's Totodile certainly had sharp jaws. He certainly seemed to be rather strong too.

In retaliation, he decided to bite Jerry's Totodile on the tail.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile. Unfortunately, it appeared Sarah's Totodile found his weak spot.

Sarah's Totodile decided to exploit it by continuing to nibble on Jerry's Totodile's tail.

"Totodile!" bellowed Jerry's Totodile.

"Don't lose to another Totodile when he's so much more pathetic than you! Use Water Gun!" instructed Jerry.

Jerry's Totodile nodded, and squirted water at Sarah's Totodile.

However, he simply caught the water with his mouth and gulped it down. It was delicious and fresh.

"Totodile!" cheered Sarah's Totodile.

In retaliation, he shot water at Jerry's Totodile, causing him to collapse once again.

At this point, Jerry's Totodile was feeling rather tired.

Knowing that his Totodile was rather frightful, Jerry decided to have his Totodile use Lure. Maybe that would intimidate his opponent and make him run like a coward.

"Use Leer!" ordered Jerry.

However, when Jerry's Totodile used the technique, Sarah's Totodile wasn't paying attention, so his defense wasn't lowered.

"Darn it!" bellowed Jerry. Sarah's Totodile was proving to be an unpredictable opponent.

Suddenly, Sarah's Totodile ran toward Jerry's Totodile and tackled him once again.

Jerry gasped. His Totodile had fainted!

Unfortunately, due to the fact that his Pokemon were getting fed up with him mistreating them, he had sent them to Professor Oak's Lab for the time being. That seemed to keep them relaxed.

In other words, he was out of usable Pokemon.

"Darn it! I came to Johto hoping to get away from those losers Ned and Chris and some other Pokemon trainer comes along and makes a fool about me!" pouted Jerry.

"I wonder who those two are..." questioned Sarah.

"Fine! You can have that little girl's baseball cards!" exclaimed the youngster, handing the baseball cards to Sarah.

"Totodile!" cheered Sarah's Totodile. They did it!

Immediately, he began to jump up and down.

Jerry left shortly afterward, grumbling about how he could never get a break.

Sarah then returned the baseball cards to Casey shortly afterwards.

"You got back my baseball cards? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" exclaimed Casey.

Immediately, Casey gave Sarah a hug.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Totodile!" bellowed Sarah's Totodile. This seemed like something his trainer would do to him.

"I wonder how I should repay you..." answered Casey.

Fortunately, she had an idea.

Immediately, she gave Sarah some Pokeballs so that she could catch some more Pokemon.

"Huh? You're giving me Pokeballs?" questioned Sarah.

"I figure you should catch more Pokemon...that way you'll be a stronger Pokemon trainer!" exclaimed Casey.

"Totodile." nodded Sarah's Totodile. She did have a point there...and he would like to make friends with other Pokemon.

Sarah nodded. She wondered what Pokemon she should catch.

There were a lot of possibilities...

 _Back at Professor Elm's Lab..._

"She's going to do something horrible, I know it!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.

"Right, of course..." nodded Officer Valiant. For some strange reason the things that Officer Cutter typically didn't turn out to be true. He wasn't sure why.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, I suppose I did promise you Pokemon if you managed to help me with that little errand of mine...take care of them for me, will you? Make sure that they don't end up like my poor Totodile did..." answered Professor Elm.

Jake nodded. That seemed rather fair.

Immediately, Lucy and Jake picked up the two Pokeballs that were on his desk.

Lucy opened hers first. It was a Chikorita.

"Chikorita!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon. This one happened to be female...so she matched her feminine appearance.

Lucy scanned Chikorita with her Pokedex.

"Chikorita, the Leaf Pokemon. A pleasant aroma emanates from the leaf on its head. Also, it loves sunlight." read Lucy's Pokedex.

"Huh. That leaf does smell pretty good." answered Lucy.

"Chikorita!" exclaimed Lucy's Chikorita. She was glad that she liked the smell.

Now it was Jake's turn to see what Pokemon he got.

"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. This Cyndaquil was male.

Jake noted that Pokemon professors had a tendency to give out Pokemon that were grass, fire, and water respectively. Maybe some things didn't change between regions.

He scanned Cyndaquil with his Pokedex.

"Cyndaquil, the Fire Mouse Pokemon. It is rather timid, and has a tendency to curl itself into a ball. It can defend itself using flames from its back." explained Jake's Pokedex.

Sure enough, Cyndaquil appeared to be hiding behind a tree.

"Do I look scary to you?" inquired Jake.

Cyndaquil thought about that. He didn't appear to be threatening.

Immediately, Jake picked up some Pokechow and handed it to Cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed Jake's Cyndaquil. Fortunately, it appeared that his new trainer was a friend...and not a robber like the crook that had nabbed Totodile.

"We'll be leaving the lab in order to investigate..." stated Officer Valiant.

"See you later!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.

Immediately, the two police officers left the building.

"We should probably get going too..." answered Lucy.

"There are some Pokeballs if you need some..." stated Professor Elm.

Jake and Lucy nodded, and picked out five Pokeballs each.

They then set out to get more Pokemon.

 _Well, it looks like Jake and Lucy have their own starter Pokemon. And once again Lucy got her hands on a grass type. However, Jake managed to obtain a fire Pokemon starter this time._

 _In the next chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to head to Violet City...also, they're going to get some Pokemon from Johto. Afterwards, they're going to spend the night in the city since they're getting exhausted...and then Chris and Ned will show up in the fanfic. Did you miss them?_


	5. Chapter 5: Back In Business

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to catch Pokemon...again! Can you guess what they're going to be? Lucy and Jake are going to be catching Pokemon during the day right now...so don't expect them to be catching nocturnal Pokemon. Matutinal Pokemon are fair game though._

 **Chapter 5: Back In Business**

Lucy and Jake stepped into tall grass. Once again, they were catching Pokemon out in the middle of the wilderness. It was just like back in Kanto.

"It sure is nice to catch Pokemon again, isn't it?" inquired Lucy.

"It certainly is..." nodded Jake. This time they were going to be catching different Pokemon...Pokemon that were not native to Kanto.

Basically they were going to have a good time.

Sure enough, Jake spotted a Pokemon on top of a hill.

"What Pokemon is that?" questioned the boy, coming closer to get a good look. Quickly, he realized that it was not a Pokemon native to Kanto.

It was a Sentret, who appeared to be standing guard. Jake wondered why it was doing such a thing.

Nearby, there appeared to be several Sentret nesting.

Jake scanned the Sentret with his Pokedex. Perhaps he could learn something useful.

"Sentret, the Scout Pokemon. It is a very cautious Pokemon. If it spots an intruder, it will immediately alert the rest of its kind so that they can flee." read Jake's Pokedex.

It occurred to Jake that he was going to have to be rather sneaky if he wanted to catch one of them...unless Sentrets didn't count humans as intruders.

Fortunately for the wild Sentret, most Pokemon at Route 29 did not pose a threat to them. Nonetheless, they kept guard anyway. It was a big habit of theirs to watch over their surroundings.

Immediately, Jake hid into the bushes so that Sentret wouldn't spot him and sound the alarm.

"Sentret?" inquired Sentret. He thought that he had seen something for a second, but he decided that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Maybe it was time to take a nap and let another Sentret take over.

At that very moment, Jake tossed a Pokeball at him.

"Sentret?" inquired the sentry Pokemon. Who threw that?

Fortunately, it worked. Sentret was immediately sucked inside the Pokeball.

He decided to investigate his surroundings...and then heard a ding.

He then realized what had happened.

Well, maybe he could look after his Pokemon trainer now.

Jake let out the Sentret from his Pokeball shortly afterwards.

"Sentret!" exclaimed the scout Pokemon. It looked like he had been caught by a Pokemon trainer. Well, he supposed that wasn't a big deal. He might want to keep a better eye out for Pokemon trainers in the near future. Some of his friends wanted to be with Pokemon trainers too.

Unsurprisingly, he was investigating his surroundings.

"Do you see anything?" asked Lucy.

Sentret pointed out that there was a city up ahead.

"We already know that." pointed out Jake.

Sentret shrugged. People did visit Cherrygrove City on the way to Violet City.

"I suppose we should head there next..." answered the girl.

Clefairy nodded. Violet City wasn't too far from where they were.

Jake sent Sentret back into his Pokeball. If he needed a Pokemon to investigate their surroundings, he knew what to call.

Shortly afterwards, they entered Cherrygrove City again.

Curious, they noticed that someone had apparently been in the water recently. There were footprints leading to a pond next to the city.

They wondered who wanted to go for a swim.

Continuing on, they went towards where Mr. Pokemon lived.

Suddenly, Lucy spotted another Pokemon.

As it turned out, it was a Ledyba. Apparently, they only came out during the morning, so it was a lucky find.

Of course, Lucy liked waking up early, so it was natural that she would find one in Johto.

Lucy scanned the Ledyba with her Pokedex. Judging from the antenna, she encountered a bug type. And judging from the fact that it had wings, it was a flying type too. It was a bit like her Butterfree.

"Ledyba, the Five Star Pokemon. It is very timid and will typically not travel alone. In the winter, they gather together to stay warm." stated Lucy's Pokedex.

As it turned out, this Ledyba was in fact alone. A lone Ledyba was certainly a lonely Ledyba.

Maybe a swarm of Ledyba would show up so that being alone wasn't an issue. But as it was, there weren't any other Ledyba nearby.

The wild Ledyba looked rather sad.

Lucy decided to approach the bug Pokemon.

"Ledyba?" inquired the ladybug Pokemon. Did she need something?

"Do you...need a buddy?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Though she wasn't a bug type, she could try making friends with a bug Pokemon regardless.

Ledyba nodded. Unfortunately, it appeared that the other Ledyba were elsewhere...well, Pokemon trainers would make good company too.

"Alright then..." stated the girl, catching Ledyba with her Pokeball.

Curiously, the Pokedex said this Ledyba was male.

"I was under the impression that he was a girl..." said Lucy.

Apparently, not all Pokemon were as feminine as they looked.

However, she ultimately decided that it didn't matter. She had caught a new Pokemon and that was that. Besides, she already had two female Pokemon on her team, one of which she had with her ever since she went on her first Pokemon journey.

"I caught a Pokemon!" exclaimed Lucy to Jake.

"Good...let's head to Violet City now, shall we?" inquired Jake. Of course, they would likely want to catch more Pokemon if they wanted to challenge the gym leader.

Alternatively, they could try getting some of their old ones.

Curious, Jake noticed that there was a cavern up ahead.

He decided to look inside.

However, it quickly became apparent that he wasn't getting far inside without a light source. Maybe he should have brought a flashlight.

"It's awfully dark in there..." remarked Lucy.

"I guess they call it the Dark Cave for a reason..." answered Jake.

At that very moment, Jerry came running out from the cavern.

"Aah!" exclaimed Jerry as he ran out of the cave.

Apparently, he had woken up a swarm of Zubat that were sleeping inside that cave. Perhaps he should have walked more quietly while he was traversing the cave.

On the lighter side, he had managed to catch a Pokemon that he used to dig himself out.

"Dunsparce!" exclaimed his latest Pokemon.

Lucy scanned Dunsparce with her Pokedex.

"Dunsparce, the Land Snake Pokemon. It is capable of floating with its wings...and it burrows into the ground with its tail when spotted." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

Jerry decided to flee to Violet City for the time being.

"We should probably head there too..." nodded Lucy.

It would be a good idea to stay at the city for the time being. That way they could relax and get ready for challenging the Gym Leader.

Immediately, they went through the entrance to Violet City.

Sure enough, there were several Pokemon trainers inside the city that also wanted to challenge the Gym Leader.

However, they also noticed that some Pokemon trainers were heading to a tower up ahead. Lucy wondered why there was a tower in the middle of the city.

They also discovered that there was a school, similar to the one that was in Viridian City.

"Maybe we should pay the school a visit..." remarked Lucy.

Jake nodded. Perhaps they could learn something there...or teach the students something.

As it turned out, there was a lady there standing next to the teacher, who went by the name of Earl. She was holding an umbrella and was wearing a white dress. She also had long red hair. She was wearing white gloves on her arms as well and had pink high heels.

"What's this? It looks like we have some guests!" exclaimed the lady. Whenever she spoke, she spoke rather elegantly.

"Who is this?" inquired Jake. She didn't look like a teacher.

"Oh, this is Morgiana. She's a lady that's rather popular around Johto. She hails from Goldenrod City and is a huge fan of Pokemon." stated the teacher.

"So am I!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Right now I'm teaching students how valuable Pokemon are..." explained Morgiana.

"They certainly are..." nodded Jake.

"So...are you two students, or are you just visiting?" inquired the lady.

"Well, we never visited the school in Viridian City..." acknowledged Lucy.

"Rumor has it that it was secretly run by Team Rocket..." stated Jake. Fortunately, though Giovanni was in fact the gym leader, the school had nothing to do with him.

"Oh, I see..." nodded Morgiana.

"We did visit the Viridian Forest though..." answered Jake.

"Oh really? I'll have you know that there's a forest close to Azalea Town...and speaking of Viridian Forest, I heard that they're making it easier for Pokemon trainers to get through the forest to make their Pokemon journeys easier." explained Morgiana.

Lucy wondered if Azalea Town was going to be their next stop after Violet City.

Jake thought that was rather good to hear.

"Anyways, you're probably going to fight Falkner, do you not?" inquired Morgiana. That was the main reason people came to Violet City these days.

Lucy and Jake nodded. They weren't going to be in the Silver Cup Conference if they didn't fight gym leaders.

"Well, good luck with that..." stated the lady.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Lucy.

However, as they discovered, Falkner was not at his gym at the moment. Apparently he was off training with his flying Pokemon.

It looked like they would have to wait for him to return.

"Well, we might as well start training..." remarked Jake.

Lucy nodded. What Pokemon trainers should they fight?

Perhaps they could go outside to see if there were any Pokemon trainers battling. That wouldn't be a bad idea.

As it turned out, some of the students at the Violet Academy were willing to fight.

"You want to fight?" asked a male student at the academy. He was wearing glasses and was holding a textbook in his left hand.

"I sure am." nodded Jake.

Immediately, a male student sent out his Pidgey.

Jake noted that many Pokemon that were native to Kanto were also native to Johto as well.

He decided to send out his Cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed the fire mouse Pokemon.

"Pidgey, use Tickle!" ordered the student.

Pidgey decided to do just that...

...but he ended up burning himself when he touched Cyndaquil's back when it ignited.

"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed Jake's Cyndaquil. It looked like he had the upper hand.

"Maybe you should have tried attacking him from the front..." suggested Jake.

"Argh...I forgot about the flames that shot out of a Cyndaquil's back..." remarked the student.

"Yeah...it'd probably be best to remember that..." nodded the Celadon City resident.

Jake's Cyndaquil then followed by shooting flames out of his mouth at Pidgey.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed the student's Pidgey. This was going to hurt.

As soon as the flames hit Pidgey, he fainted on the spot.

"Darn it! I lost!" exclaimed the student.

"I guess you still have more to learn about raising Pokemon, huh?" answered Jake.

The young student nodded. Maybe one of these days he would be strong enough to challenge Falkner. Speaking of which, he heard that he also had a Pidgey. How about that?

"Anyone want to fight me?" questioned Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Maybe she could learn something from this school herself. However, people thought that she already knew everything. Clefairies were very intelligent Pokemon, even if they weren't psychic types.

"I'll do it!" exclaimed a female student at the academy. She was wearing glasses like the boy at the school was. However, she had longer hair than he did on account on her being female.

Immediately, she sent out her Rattata.

Lucy considered sending out her Clefairy for a moment...but she then remembered that she needed to train her other Pokemon too.

She decided to send out her Chikorita instead.

"Chikorita!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

Immediately, Rattata sniffed Chikorita's leaf.

"Rattata..." murmured the rat Pokemon. That leaf smelled better than cheese...and that was really saying something.

Of course, he doubted that he could eat Chikorita's leaves like he could eat the cheese. He was not into veggies. But it was a pleasant smell regardless.

Lucy realized that Rattata was letting his guard down, and decided to exploit it.

"Use Razor Leaf!" ordered Lucy.

Chikorita nodded, and used Razor Leaf on Rattata.

"Rattata!" exclaimed the rodent Pokemon. No wonder that technique was called Razor Leaf! Those leaves were sharp!

Already, he was rather bruised and battered.

Well, he might as well continue fighting since he hadn't fainted yet.

Immediately, his trainer instructed him to run over to Chikorita and bite her.

However, Chikorita saw him coming.

Quickly, she grabbed onto Rattata with her vines, wrapping them around his tail.

"Rattata!" exclaimed the trained Rattata. He couldn't move!

Chikorita then hit Rattata on the head with another Vine Whip.

"Rattata..." murmured the fainted rodent Pokemon. Maybe he should have tried gnawing through the vines with his teeth.

"Darn it! I lost! I guess I'll have to study how to beat grass types..." remarked the female student.

"Chikorita." stated Chikorita. Maybe she should try using a fire type.

After helping the students at the academy, Lucy and Jake noticed that the sun was going down.

"I guess we should go to the Pokemon Center to rest..." suggested Lucy.

Jake nodded. That was not a bad idea.

Immediately, Lucy and Jake went to the Pokemon Center so that they could rest both themselves and their Pokemon.

Tomorrow, they would see if Falkner returned to the gym.

If not, they could simply try catching more Pokemon.

There were many places to find them...

 _And Lucy has caught a Ledyba while Jake has caught a Sentret. Now they have three Pokemon each. And I decided to give their Cyndaquil and Chikorita an opportunity to show what they can do. I'll also be using Pokemon that they had caught earlier, namely those that didn't get much screen time._

 _Not at the moment though. Right now we're going to be focusing on Chris and Ned...I figure since Lucy and Jake are in this fanfic why not have THEM in this fanfic too. That way the fanfic will be more interesting._


	6. Chapter 6: Someone Different

_In this chapter, we're going to be focusing on Chris and Ned, as they said. However, they're going to be catching Pokemon at a different time than Lucy and Jake did...I figured they'd be catching some Pokemon that only come out at night...do you like the idea?_

 **Chapter 6: Someone Different**

Ned was relaxing at his house at Saffron City. As usual, he was researching Pokemon. Maybe he would start giving out starter Pokemon to Pokemon trainers some day. Alternatively he could try teaching at the Viridian City School House.

"This is rather interesting..." remarked Ned, holding a magnifying glass.

It was nice to get to spend time with his parents now that he was done with his Pokemon journey. Now that he had met so many Pokemon, he wanted to study them.

Right now, he was studying his Omanyte since it was a fossil Pokemon and therefore ancient. Perhaps he could learn more about ancient Pokemon than he could learn about modern-day Pokemon. It was lucky that he had managed to find a fossil and bring it back to life.

"Omanyte!" exclaimed the shell Pokemon.

"So...you like water, don't you?" inquired Ned.

Omanyte nodded. Back before he ended up being frozen during the ice age when the temperature lowered, he loved going for a swim. He also lived among a colony of Omanyte.

Ned was simply loving Omanyte's life story. Omanyte appreciated the attention.

However, at that very moment, he heard knocking on his door.

"Omanyte?" inquired Ned's Omanyte.

"Huh?" asked the boy. He wondered who it could be. They were knocking...rather loudly. For some strange reason it seemed rather familiar.

Curious, he decided to open the door to see what was going on. Apparently, whoever was knocking wanted him really badly.

It was a rather familiar face.

"Nice to see you again!" greeted Ned.

As it turned out, it was his old pal Chris. She was dressed in a silver outfit this time...a silver shirt and silver jeans to be precise.

"You're coming with me!" exclaimed Chris.

"Huh?" asked Ned.

Suddenly, Chris seized Ned's arm, much to his surprise.

"What? Where are we going?" asked Ned.

"We're heading to Johto!" exclaimed Chris.

"Johto?" inquired the boy. His dad had told him about that Pokemon region a few times.

"Here, I got you this!" shouted the girl. She figured that they should blend it while they were there, though she wasn't nearly into fashion as Lucy was.

As it turned out, it was a bronze lab coat similar to the white lab coat he wore back when he was in Kanto.

Ned wondered what was the hurry...but he decided to put the bronze coat on anyway.

"Didn't you hear the news? There's a Johto Pokemon League now! We can start fighting gym leaders again!" exclaimed Chris.

"So, it's like before?" asked Ned.

"Yes, it is! We're going to go out and get some more gym badges! That way we'll be sixteen instead of eight!" shouted the girl.

"It would be interesting to fight more gym leaders..." agreed the boy. Personally he was more interested in researching the Pokemon that were native to Johto. Pokemon always varied per region, though some Pokemon that were in one region could be found in other regions as well.

In order to get to New Bark Town quickly, they were going to use the Magnet Train...which had been set up in Saffron City, incidentally. Chris found it to be rather fortunate. They certainly wouldn't need to go far.

She had planned ahead and had bought some tickets. The guard in front of the train happily let them onboard. Fortunately, the tickets were rarely sold out.

Immediately, Chris and Ned stepped onto the train and climbed into their seats.

The magnet train set out at an impressive speed.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Ned, nearly falling out of his seat. This train was fast as a Rapidash!

In just a few minutes, they were at New Bark Town.

However, they realized that it was in the middle of the night. The moon was currently in the sky and the sun was gone elsewhere.

"You sure we shouldn't wait until day time?" questioned Ned. He preferred it during the day as it was much less scary.

"I'm not waiting that long! Come on! Let's go visit Professor Elm!" exclaimed Chris.

Immediately, Ned and Chris went to visit Professor Elm.

Currently, he was taking a snooze. He didn't seem to be sleeping too well, judging from the fact that he was tossing and turning in his chair.

"No...don't take my Totodile...he never did anything to you...let him be...nooo..." remarked the professor.

"What's his problem?" questioned Chris. She had no idea what he was talking about in his sleep.

"Apparently he's having some sort of nightmare..." answered Ned. He wondered what it could be about. It sounded like he had been robbed recently.

Ned decided to wake him up.

"Huh? What? What's going on?" asked Professor Elm. He sure hoped that the thief that had stolen his Totodile hadn't returned in the middle of the night.

"We're here to get starter Pokemon..." answered Chris. What else did he think that they were there for?

However, as it turned out, Professor Elm did not give out Pokemon during the night.

Not only that, but Lucy and Jake had already obtained a Cyndaquil and a Chikorita from him. As for the Totodile, it had been stolen by a Pokemon thief.

"What?!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

"Sorry about that...I'll have more starter Pokemon in the daytime..." answered Professor Elm.

"Can you at least update our Pokedexes?" inquired Ned.

"I certainly can do that..." nodded the professor.

Immediately, Professor Elm updated the duo's Pokedexes.

"Let's keep going. We already have our starter Pokemon so we can keep going. I already sent mine to Professor Oak, did you?" inquired Chris.

"As a matter of fact, I did." nodded Ned. He figured that Professor Oak could learn more about his Pokemon like he was learning more about Pokemon he found in the wild.

"Alright then. Let's go to Cherrygrove City!" exclaimed Chris.

Reluctantly, Ned followed Chris to Cherrygrove City. He still didn't get why this couldn't wait until the sun was in the sky.

Personally, he found walking around outside in the middle of the night to be rather scary.

"Chris, I'm scared..." murmured Ned. Sweat was forming down his face. He was hearing Pokemon inside the bushes...Pokemon that might not be friendly.

"C'mon! Don't be such a baby..." answered Chris. Speaking of which, baby Pokemon had been discovered recently. They were adoptable at the Pokemon daycare. However, she wasn't interested in obtaining one.

Curious, Ned noticed that there was a Hoothoot nesting on a tree.

He decided to ask her a question.

"How many licks does it take to get to a center of a Tootsie Roll pop?" inquired Ned.

Hoothoot decided to find out.

She took three licks out of the Tootsie Roll pop.

She then bit into it.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Ned. Maybe he should ask a different Pokemon.

Well, there was another question that he could ask.

"Do you know the way to Cherrygrove City? It's kind of dark outside and we're having a hard time seeing things..." remarked Ned.

"Hmm...where should I go next?" remarked Chris.

Hoothoot nodded. Normally a Pokemon would have a hard time seeing in darkness...but not Hoothoots. They could see in the darkness just as well as they could in light.

However, they typically were not up during the day. They liked to take a snooze at that particular time.

Immediately, she beckoned Ned and Chris to follow her.

Ned nodded.

Quickly, he followed Hoothoot through the forest.

Once again, they reached their destination rather quickly.

Ned decided to scan Hoothoot with his Pokedex. It looked like he had encountered a flying type that was native to Johto.

"Hoothoot, the Owl Pokemon. It always stands at one foot. It can change its feet so fast, the movement is rarely seen." stated Ned's Pokedex.

Curious, Ned noticed that Hoothoot was now standing on her other foot.

"What the- How did you-" asked Ned.

Ned decided that he would ask that later.

"Is there any way we can repay you? I really appreciate your help!" exclaimed Ned. Without her they might have gotten lost...though of course Chris would probably not admit that.

Hoothoot nodded. As it turned out, she was looking for a Pokeball that she could call help. It would save a lot of time on building a nest.

"Huh? You want to be my Pokemon? Alright then..." nodded the boy. He might as well catch some Pokemon while he was in Johto.

Immediately, he put Hoothoot inside his Pokeball.

"Now then, where were we? Violet City can't be far from here..." remarked Chris.

"Probably not..." nodded Ned.

Once again, Chris decided to keep going. Ned wondered if Chris was ever going to rest.

Well, at least he had a Hoothoot so that he could see what was up ahead. That would come in handy if they were ever inside a cavern. It wasn't a big surprise that Zubats used echolocation to find their way around.

Ned wondered what other Pokemon were around at night. Hopefully they were a friendly batch.

At that very moment, he spotted another Pokemon.

It was a wild Spinarak, hanging from a string.

"Spinarak!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon. It was rare for the spider to receive guests other than other bug Pokemon.

Immediately, he freaked out.

"Aah! What is that Pokemon?!" exclaimed Ned. He had never seen a bug type like that before.

"Huh? Is something the matter, Ned?" inquired Chris.

Immediately, she decided to take a closer look.

"Wait, hold on...you're afraid of that little Pokemon? C'mon, Ned, there are a lot scarier Pokemon than that..." remarked Chris. Did he not remember their trip to the Pokemon Tower? Of course, it was a Radio Tower now. Apparently the citizens of Kanto wanted to listen to radio.

"Spinarak!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon. Who would have thought that there would be Pokemon trainers outside in the middle of the night? Well, their company wasn't a bad thing.

Chris scanned Spinarak with her Pokedex.

"Spinarak, the String Spit Pokemon. It can climb any surface easily, and it can shoot thick and durable webbing from both its front and back." read Chris's Pokedex.

"Isn't that interesting..." remarked Chris.

"Do something!" exclaimed Ned.

"Fine. No need to panic." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, she threw a Pokeball at the Spinarak.

Since the Spinarak found the Pokeball to be preferable to the web the arachnid spun earlier, the spider Pokemon did not put up a struggle.

"There! Problem solved!" exclaimed Chris.

"I suppose he was kind of cute..." answered Ned.

"Actually, according to the Pokedex, this Spinarak was female." stated the tomboy.

"Oh...how do you think we can tell them apart?" inquired the boy.

At that very moment, a male Spinarak showed up. Ned quickly noticed that it was smaller than the female Spinarak that Chris had caught a few moments ago.

"I guess female Spinarak are bigger than male ones..." remarked Ned.

"Right...let's get going, shall we?" inquired Chris.

Currently, the Berry Master was growing berry trees...in the middle of the night. Apparently, he did not rest often.

They also passed by Mr. Pokemon's house. Mr. Pokemon was currently taking a snooze.

"Zzz...Pokemon are my friends...zzz..." mumbled Mr. Pokemon in his sleep.

Eventually, they arrived in Violet City.

"There we are! Can we rest now?" asked Ned.

"Fine..." nodded Chris. She supposed that they had traveled far enough. Besides, the gym was just beyond the corner at this point.

Not only that, but they had caught some Pokemon. It was interesting to know that some Pokemon only came out at night while others appeared during the day. They might want to try catching Pokemon at different times of day to see what they could catch.

Of course, Ned was not looking forward to going out in the middle of the night again...although he DID have a Hoothoot now.

Immediately, they went to the Pokemon Center.

Quickly, they noticed that Lucy and Jake were resting.

"Well, it looks like Lucy and Jake made it here before us..." remarked Ned.

"Darn it! I swore I would be able to beat them! But I guess not." stated Chris.

Currently, Clefairy was currently sleeping with a pillow. Elsewhere, a Pokemon trainer was sleeping without one.

Suddenly, he woke up.

"Hey! Where'd my pillow go?" asked the sleeping Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Chris climbed into a bed and went to sleep.

Likewise, Ned decided to do so as well.

Maybe tomorrow he could relax in the sunshine instead of worrying about scary Pokemon that roamed the wilderness at night. It was so much more pleasant during the day.

Of course, Chris seemed to enjoy the night a lot more than she did. Maybe she figured night-time would be a good time to catch strong Pokemon.

However, it became apparent that maybe he didn't need to worry at the moment. All the Pokemon that he had seen in Johto so far were low-leveled. Maybe it would be safe to go and catch Pokemon outside even during the night...so long as he didn't stray too far from New Bark Town.

Just in case, he would try to stay close to Chris.

"This has been a long night..." remarked Ned.

 _And Ned and Chris are back! They're going to be in this fanfic too! Of course, they're going to be giving up some screen time so that Sarah can have a chance to shine too...I hope you don't mind that. I like to be creative and adding new characters seemed like a good idea. If I make this a trilogy, chances are some of the characters introduced in this sequel fanfic might return too._

 _In the next chapter, we're going to be featuring the Sprout Tower! Ned's Victreebel is going to like it there, that's for certain._

 _Also, Falkner is going to be making an appearance. In case you don't know it already, he's going to be the first gym leader that our protagonists face. However, he's not a rock-type specialist like Brock...he's a flying-type specialist! Would you look at that?_


	7. Chapter 7: Return Of The Salesman

_In this chapter, our protagonists are going to be visiting Sprout Tower. In the process, they're going to meet up with Sarah. Meanwhile, Professor Elm's selecting a Pokemon trainer to take care of an egg._

 **Chapter 7: Return Of The Salesman**

Lucy and Jake woke up after their nap. Curious, they noticed that Chris and Ned were there as well.

Unsurprisingly, Chris was waking up rather quickly. She typically did not stay asleep for long.

Lucy was rather excited to see one of her old friends.

"Hey there, Chris! Are you visiting Johto too?" inquired Lucy.

"As a matter of fact, I am. There's a lot of trainers to fight here. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that." answered Chris. With eight gym leaders to fight, she was going to have her hands for quite a while.

However, she doubted that her Spinarak would do well against Falkner. She probably needed a different Pokemon.

Ned woke up as well.

Immediately, he stretched out his arms.

"Are you here to research Pokemon, Ned?" inquired Jake.

"Yes, I am. I caught a Hoothoot..." nodded Ned.

"A Hoothoot? I don't recall seeing those on the way here..." questioned Lucy.

"That's because they only come out at night." explained the smart boy.

"Oh. That explains it." nodded the girl. According to her Pokedex, Ledybas only came out during the morning, so perhaps she needed to watch the clock before looking for specific species of Pokemon.

"So, you want to visit the Sprout Tower?" inquired Lucy.

"You do that...we're going to fight Falkner." stated Chris.

"OK!" exclaimed the girl.

Suddenly, Ned noticed a familiar face.

It was none other than the Magikarp Salesman. Currently, he was selling Pokemon to unsuspecting Pokemon trainers.

This time, he was selling Celebi. Curious, he decided to look Celebi up on his Pokedex.

Apparently, Celebi was the guardian of the Ilex Forest.

Ned decided to go visit him.

"Get your Celebi! They're just five hundred Pokedollars!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

Several Pokemon trainers were in line to get their Celebi.

However, Ned knew from experience that the Magikarp Salesman was up to something. Something didn't seem quite right about the Pokemon that he was selling.

Ned took a closer look at the Celebi...

...and he noticed that there were zippers on their backs. Apparently, they weren't Celebi after all but different Pokemon entirely.

Curious, Ned noticed that they seemed to be hopping a bit.

He decided to unzip them. What Pokemon was really inside?

As it turned out, they were secretly Hoppips in disguise.

They were rather happy to be free, to say the very least.

"Hoppip!" cheered one of the wild Hoppips.

Immediately, they began to fly away in the wind. They heard that Azalea Town was a nice place to live in.

"What? No no no no no!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman, gasping in shock.

Immediately, the Pokemon trainers that were in line earlier decided to leave. At this point they realized that the salesman had been trying to trick them.

"Yes!" bellowed Ned.

At that point, the Magikarp Salesman noticed him.

"Oh, it's you! Every time you show up, you ruin my scams! if you keep it up, I'm going to run out of ideas!" exclaimed the salesman.

"You need to start living honestly." answered Ned.

"How dare you try to ruin me! This time, you're going to pay!" bellowed the salesman, pulling out a Pokeball.

Ned noted that the Magikarp Salesman hadn't changed at all since he encountered him in Kanto. And unfortunately for him, the fisherman wanted revenge.

Immediately, the Magikarp Salesman sent out a Qwilfish. As usual, he had caught a Pokemon while he was fishing.

"Qwilfish!" exclaimed the quill Pokemon.

Ned scanned Qwilfish with his Pokedex.

"Qwilfish, the Balloon Pokemon. Qwilfish can shoot needles from all directions. It is also covered with quills." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"I can see that..." nodded Ned. It would probably be a good idea not to give that particular Pokemon a hug.

To fight back against the Magikarp Salesman, Ned decided to send out his Hoothoot.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Ned's Hoothoot.

"You can do it!" shouted Ned.

Immediately, Ned instructed Hoothoot to use Peck.

However, when she attempted to do so, she ended up being poked by Qwilfish's spikes.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed the flying Pokemon. She was too close to Qwilfish. Those spikes really hurt.

The Magikarp Salesman smirked in satisfaction. Qwilfish's spikes were certainly coming in handy. He would consider selling Qwilfish if it weren't for the fact that they were rather rare. If only they would swarm more often.

In retaliation, the Magikarp Salesman ordered Qwilfish to fire quills at Hoothoot.

"Qwil! Qwil!" exclaimed the salesman's Qwilfish.

"Hoothoot!" bellowed the flying Pokemon. Who would have thought that a bird Pokemon would be taking a beating from a fish?

"This is a problem..." nodded Ned. Unfortunately, it appeared that Hoothoot's talons and beak weren't going to be effective.

What was he going to do?

However, at that very moment, help arrived.

As it turned out, one of the Hoppips had decided to stay at Ned's side instead of hopping away to be with the rest of the Hoppip. She felt that she should repay her rescuer for letting her out of that stuffy costume.

"Huh? You want to give me a hand? I would appreciate the help..." nodded Ned.

Hoppip nodded up and down. She was rather grateful...like those trio of Clefairies who had been rescued by a man in a bowler hat.

Immediately, she began to shoot bullets at Qwilfish.

"Qwilfish!" exclaimed the puffer fish Pokemon. Who would have thought that a Pokemon spitting seeds on her would hurt?

Ned quickly realized that Hoppip was a better choice against Qwilfish than Hoothoot was. She would still need to watch out for the poisonous quills though. Hoppips were weak against poison.

Speaking of which, Qwilfish was getting ready to use Spikes again.

Fortunately for Hoppip, she could simply hop over them. She was rather quick.

"Why aren't you hitting her?" asked the Magikarp Salesman.

"Qwilfish!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon. She was simply too fast.

Hoppip hit Qwilfish with another round of seeds.

Qwilfish fainted.

"Darn it! I lost!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman. Unfortunately, the rest of his water Pokemon were relaxing at a pool that he had obtained from the money that he had scammed out of unsuspecting Pokemon trainers.

"No more scamming for you today!" shouted Ned.

"Grr...I'll come up with another scam! Just you wait!" bellowed the salesman.

Ned noted that it appeared that he had not seen the last of the salesman after all. Apparently, he liked to travel across regions every now and then to make sure that Officer Jenny didn't catch wind of his con artist habits.

Curious, he noticed that Hoppip was now jumping up and down. He supposed that he should expect that on account on what Pokemon she was.

He scanned Hoppip with his Pokedex.

"Hoppip, the Cottonweed Pokemon. Typically, they gather in clusters to avoid being blown away by wind. However, they enjoy gentle breezes." said Ned's Pokedex.

Clearly, Hoppip wanted to be his Pokemon.

Not wanting to turn down her request, Ned caught Hoppip with his Pokeball.

"There we go." stated Ned.

Since his Hoothoot had been injured, he decided to visit the Pokemon Center.

Several other Pokemon trainers were also in the Pokemon Center, including Totodile. Totodile was currently having a toothache.

"Totodile..." murmured Sarah's Totodile.

"Maybe you shouldn't have bitten into that Geodude." suggested Sarah.

Fortunately, the Chansey were giving him hot soup that was making him feel better.

At that very moment, one of Professor Elm's aides walked in.

"Greetings! Today we're going to be giving out a Pokemon egg to one of the trainers in this room!" exclaimed the aide.

"Huh?" asked Ned.

"Totodile?" inquired the crocodile Pokemon.

Shortly afterwards, the lights went out and a spotlight appeared.

It began to circle around the room.

"It looks like they're choosing at random..." remarked Ned. Who was going to be the lucky winner?

Eventually, it stopped...

...on Sarah.

"Congratulations! You're our winner!" exclaimed the aide.

Sarah fell out of her seat.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. Who would have thought that they would win the egg?

"Here is your egg!" stated the aide.

Immediately, he gave the egg to Sarah.

"I wonder why he's giving me an egg..." questioned the girl. Personally, she didn't know what she was going to do with.

Well, Totodile was feeling better now, so she decided to leave the Pokemon Center along with Totodile.

However, as she did so, the aide suddenly noticed something.

"Wait a minute, isn't that the stolen Pokemon?" questioned the aide.

He then gasped in alarm.

"Oh no! I gave her the egg that Professor Elm wanted to give to a Pokemon trainer to research! What was I thinking? I have to call Officer Jenny immediately!" exclaimed Professor Elm's assistant.

Immediately, he ran outside the Pokemon Center to find the nearest pay phone.

"What was that all about?" inquired Ned.

He decided to go visit his friends to tell them the good news.

Sure enough, Lucy and Jake were heading to Sprout Tower.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Ned.

"Hey, Ned. How are you doing?" inquired Jake.

"Pretty good. I caught a Hoppip!" exclaimed Ned.

"A Hoppip? Not bad." answered Lucy.

"Yeah...I also met a girl who had a Totodile...one of Professor Elm's aides gave her an egg...I wonder what's inside..." questioned the bespectacled boy.

Lucy and Jake gasped in shock.

"Huh? What did I say?" inquired Ned.

"Did that girl have pink hair and was dressed like a Team Rocket Grunt?" questioned Jake.

"Now that I thought of it...she was dressed like a Team Rocket Grunt. There was a purple S on her shirt instead of a red R though..." remarked Ned. He thought that they had gotten rid of Team Rocket.

"Ned, that girl stole that Totodile!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What? She did?" inquired Ned.

"Yeah...we need to get him back to Professor Elm!" shouted Jake.

"But I'm not sure where she went..." answered the boy.

"Well, we might want to look for her..." remarked Lucy.

Immediately, Jake, Lucy, and Ned went to look for Sarah.

However, they didn't seem to find her anywhere. This was a rather large city, after all.

"Darn it! Where did she go?" inquired Jake.

"I guess we're just going to have to keep looking for her..." remarked Lucy. Maybe she went to the Sprout Tower?

Lucy and Jake went to the tower immediately.

Quickly, they noticed something rather interesting.

The tower was full of Bellsprouts!

"Bellsprout!" exclaimed of the Bellsprouts.

"This tower is quite peculiar..." remarked Lucy. There were even statues of Bellsprout close to the entrance.

 _Meanwhile..._

"This egg feels rather warm..." stated Sarah. Since there were shapes on the egg, Sarah wondered if someone had been doodling on it.

At that very moment, Officer Jenny showed up.

"You're carrying a stolen Pokemon. You need to give it back to its owner at once!" demanded Officer Jenny.

Sarah's Growlithe barked at her.

"Hmm...should I give Totodile to her or shouldn't I?" inquired Sarah.

On one hand, her employer had never said anything about stealing Totodile. She COULD give him back to Professor Elm.

On the other hand, Totodile was her best friend. She would certainly miss him.

However, as it turned out, Totodile wished to stay with Sarah.

Immediately, he squirted Growlithe with his water gun.

"Growlithe!" exclaimed the puppy Pokemon.

"Growlithe!" shouted Officer Jenny.

Unfortunately for Growlithe, he was a fire type and Totodile was a water type.

Not only that, but he had much bigger jaws than he did. He didn't stand a chance against him in a fight.

Growlithe began to run away.

"Growlithe!" exclaimed Growlithe.

"Come back!" ordered Officer Jenny. Unfortunately, her Growlithe was rather young and therefore was rather frightened easily.

At that very moment, she encountered the Magikarp Salesman.

"Hello there! How would you like a shiny Magikarp?" inquired the salesman.

Immediately, he pulled out a blue Magikarp.

"Magikarp!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon.

"It's yours for just one thousand Pokedollars!" shouted the Magikarp Salesman. If this scam went well, he would be painting more Magikarps in the future. He already had several paint cans.

"That seems like a nice deal..." stated Officer Jenny.

However, Sarah's Totodile caught on to the deception.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile.

"What? That's not a shiny Magikarp?" inquired Sarah.

"Totodile!" shouted the crocodile Pokemon. Real shiny Magikarps were yellow, not blue!

"It looks like she's being scammed...maybe we should do something." suggested the girl.

Fortunately, Totodile knew what to do.

Immediately, he splashed the painted Magikarp with water...causing the paint to wash off.

"Uh-oh!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

"Trying to scam me, are you? You're under arrest!" shouted Officer Jenny.

Immediately, she stuck handcuffs on the Magikarp Salesman's wrists and took him to her car.

At that very moment, her Growlithe returned. Apparently he had noticed what Totodile had done and had decided that he was a good Pokemon.

Officer Jenny apologized to Sarah after locking the Magikarp Salesman inside her vehicle.

"Thanks for your help. I think I might have gotten you mixed up with someone else..." answered Officer Jenny.

"It's OK." stated Sarah.

Immediately, Officer Jenny drove off.

"Totodile!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. What should they do now?

"Let me think..." stated Sarah.

Perhaps they could examine their egg more closely. They might notice something interesting.

"Let me see..." thought the girl.

It certainly was a rather interesting egg.

"Maybe there's something inside?" questioned Sarah.

However, she didn't want to break it if she didn't know for sure. Besides, it looked rather sturdy.

"I guess I'll just put it in my bag." stated the girl.

Immediately, she put it inside her bag.

"I wonder if there are any other Team Shadow Grunts in the area..." answered Sarah.

If there were, she was going to look for them.

Quickly, she began to look around the city.

"Where could they possibly be?" questioned the girl.

 _It looks like Sarah got a free egg and Ned got a new Pokemon. Also, the Magikarp Salesman showed up again. This time, he ended up getting arrested! Perhaps he should have listened to Ned. However, it's probably not going to be the last that we see of him. He did show up several times in the Pokemon anime, after all._

 _In the next chapter, Jerry's going to make another appearance. This time he's going to be at the tower trying to collect the prize that awaits him._


	8. Chapter 8: Sprouting Upward

_In this chapter, Ned and Chris are going to climb up the Sprout Tower...in the process, they're going to meet Jerry again. He was hoping not to see them again...but guess what? He will. This time he's going to get in a battle with Chris. And yes, just because they're in a different region doesn't mean that they won't be fighting each other anymore. Some things don't change like that._

 **Chapter 8: Sprouting Up**

Curious, Ned decided to visit the local Sprout Tower. The first thing he noticed was just how tall it was. Hopefully he would still be able to breathe up there.

It seemed to be a popular tourist attraction. Of course, it was also possible that he could visit the Ruins Of Alph. They were awfully mysterious...and for some strange reason they reminded people of the alphabet.

As he could tell, it was full of Bellsprouts. Apparently people liked bringing them here.

It suddenly occurred to him that maybe he should bring his Victreebel. It was the final evolution of Bellsprout, after all.

He went to the Pokemon Center to retrieve it. Fortunately for him, it wasn't far from the Pokemon Center. Since there were many monks that enjoyed battling Pokemon trainers inside the tower, it really wasn't a bad thing.

Immediately, he turned on the PC. Fortunately, his Kanto Pokemon were all there, just as he left them. However, he got the feeling that some Johto Pokemon were going to be joining them pretty soon.

He came back with it a few minutes later.

"Alright, now I just need to send her out of her Pokeball..." thought Ned. Hopefully Victreebel wouldn't end up tackling him once she was released. However, it was possible that she had learned to restrain herself during her stay with Professor Oak.

At that very moment, Chris showed up. Curious, she noticed that there were a lot of bald men inside the tower. Were their barbers insane or something?

"Where are you going?" asked Chris.

"I figured my Victreebel would like it here..." explained Ned.

"And why is that?" questioned the girl.

Ned pointed to the various Bellsprout statues.

"Oh..." stated Chris. That made sense. Victreebel WAS a Bellsprout once...before she evolved into a Weepinbell and then found a Leaf Stone, of course. It sure had been a long time.

Ned sent out his Victreebel.

"Victreebel?" inquired Ned's Victreebel. Where was she?

She looked around and noticed that she was in the Sprout Tower.

She felt rather ecstatic.

"Victreebel!" cheered Ned's Victreebel. She was so happy that her trainer would take her here.

Curious, Ned noticed that some of the monks inside the tower seemed unhappy.

"What's the matter?" asked Ned.

"It's this boy named Jerry...he's not treating the Bellsprouts with respect at all...he even broke one of the statues we used to decorate the tower..." stated the monk.

Sure enough, there was a shattered Bellsprout statue nearby. The Bellsprouts certainly were unhappy.

"Hmm...I think Chris will want to know that..." acknowledged the boy.

Immediately, he went to go tell Chris.

"So...Jerry's up to no good again, huh? Why am I not surprised?" remarked Ned's Pokemon partner.

Once again, she was going to teach him a lesson by beating him in a Pokemon battle. That would usually get him to leave her and Ned alone...for a while.

Personally she was a bit surprised to see him in Johto.

She decided that she was going to have to straighten things out with him.

"Hey, Jerry! Don't you have something better to do than harass elderly men?" questioned Chris. Once again Jerry was lacking in chivalry.

Slowly, Jerry turned around.

He jumped in surprise.

"Oh, it's you! I cannot believe that you would show up to bother me here of all places!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm on a Pokemon journey too, buddy." answered Chris.

"I am not your buddy!" shouted the youngster.

Chris rolled her eyes.

"You're not stopping me this time! I'm going to beat you!" exclaimed Jerry.

Immediately, he sent out his Dunsparce.

"Dunsparce!" exclaimed Dunsparce.

"Huh. I've never seen a Pokemon quite like that." acknowledged Chris.

"It's going to pulverize you!" exclaimed Jerry.

"We'll just see about that..." remarked Chris as she sent out her Spinarak.

"Spinarak!" exclaimed Spinarak.

"Your itsy bitsy Spinarak isn't going to save you!" bellowed Jerry.

"Really? We'll just see about that..." remarked Chris.

Immediately, Dunsparce began to burrow into the ground, hoping to sneak up on Spinarak.

However, Spinarak could burrow too.

"Where did they go?" inquired Chris.

"Beats me..." answered Jerry. He bet that Dunsparce was fighting Spinarak down there...and winning.

Suddenly, Spinarak and Dunsparce resurfaced.

"Spinarak!" exclaimed the spider Pokemon.

Before Dunsparce could react, Spinarak shot a burst of webbing in his face.

"Dunsparce!" exclaimed the drill Pokemon.

"Gotcha!" bellowed Chris.

"Darn it!" shouted Jerry. Unfortunately, it appeared that Spinarak had faster reflexes than Dunsparce did.

Spinarak then followed by biting Dunsparce.

Since Spinaraks were part poison, this did not bode well for Dunsparce.

"Dunsparce..." murmured the drill Pokemon.

"Where did I put my Antidotes?" questioned Jerry.

Dunsparce fainted shortly afterward.

"Dunsparce..." remarked the digger.

"Darn it! My Dunsparce fainted! Curse you, Chris!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Still not much of a sportsman, I see..." remarked Chris.

"I'm still going to win this! Go, Totodile!" shouted Jerry.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

"Are you sure you want that as your Pokemon? He looks rather mean..." questioned Chris. She wasn't sure if even SHE wanted that as her Pokemon.

"Relax...I can handle him..." stated Jerry.

"Your Totodile's biting through one of the statues..." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile. He had no respect for other people's property. Of course, neither did Jerry himself.

Chris instructed Spinarak to shoot webbing at Totodile.

However, Jerry's Totodile countered by simply biting through the webbing. Apparently, not even Spinarak's sticky web could get past Totodile's strong jaws.

"Spinarak..." murmured Chris's Spinarak. That had never happened before.

And unfortunately, it appeared that Jerry's Totodile wanted to bite Spinarak as well.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

Immediately, he lunged towards Spinarak and bit her.

Spinarak fainted.

"Spinarak..." murmured the fainted bug Pokemon.

"So much for your little Pokemon!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Don't get so excited Jerry. I still have one Pokemon left." retorted Chris.

"I'll beat that one too!" shouted the youngster.

"We'll just see about that..." stated the teenage girl.

Immediately, Chris sent out her Jigglypuff.

"Jiggly!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Your Jigglypuff again?" questioned Jerry.

"Yes...I brought my Jigglypuff with me to Johto..." explained Chris.

"Shouldn't you be making balloon Pokemon out of her?" asked Jerry.

"That is not something that I would do to my Pokemon, let alone Jigglypuff." answered the teenage girl.

"Jiggly!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff. Jerry should be ashamed of himself simply for suggesting that.

"Have it your way...Totodile, use Bite!" bellowed Jerry.

Totodile nodded. It would be his pleasure. Unlike Charmander and Paras before him (who had decided to join his opponent, incidentally), he actually liked working with Jerry, due to him not showing respect to his opponents. Neither did he.

Immediately, Totodile lunged at Jigglypuff with his jaws.

However, Jigglypuff pulled out her microphone and began to sing.

"Let's see if music has charms to soothe the savage beast..." thought Chris.

As it turned out, it DID soothe the savage beast.

Totodile fell asleep in moments.

"Totodile..." murmured the reptile Pokemon.

"I'm so sick of this!" exclaimed Jerry. It was bad enough that this had happened back in Kanto.

"It's my fighting style. Deal with it." answered Chris.

Jigglypuff then inflated herself and body slammed Totodile, fainting him and winning the battle.

"Darn it! I lost again! And this isn't the first time I lost to a trainer in Johto either!" bellowed Jerry.

"Really? Who was it?" asked Chris.

"It was this girl who had a Totodile like mine...she got upset with me for stealing a girl's baseball cards...so she made me give them back...and to think that I lost to someone who wasn't you!" shouted the youngster. It was bad enough that he always lost to Chris and Ned...but now he had lost to Sarah too. He was so tired of all these blows to his ego.

"A girl who had a Totodile...wait a minute..." stated the teenage girl.

As it turned out, she in fact had heard of that girl. Apparently, Jake and Lucy had met her.

It was nice to know that she had done something good...even if she was a Team Shadow Grunt.

Immediately, Jerry ran out of the tower.

"Thanks for getting rid of him..." stated the monk elder.

"You're welcome!" exclaimed Chris. It was always her pleasure to keep Jerry out of trouble.

Ned showed up shortly afterwards.

"Are you here to battle me?" questioned the elder.

Ned raised an eyebrow.

"Why would I want to do that?" inquired the boy.

"If you manage to beat me, you'll get a prize..." explained the elder.

"Sounds good..." nodded Ned.

Immediately, he sent out his Hoothoot.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Ned's Hoothoot.

"Funny you should mention that...I have a Hoothoot too..." pointed out the elderly man.

"I thought this was the Sprout Tower..." questioned Ned.

"We like to have a bit of variety with our Pokemon..." explained the man.

"Oh..." comprehended the blonde boy.

Immediately, Ned's Hoothoot used Confusion.

The elder's Hoothoot ended up becoming confused.

He ended up pecking his own wing.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed the elder's Hoothoot. What was he thinking?

Unfortunately, this meant that he was having trouble flying.

"Hoothoot..." murmured the flying Pokemon. How was he going to fight if he couldn't stay in the air?

As such, Ned decided to have his Hoothoot use Peck.

Hoothoot fainted.

"Hoothoot..." murmured the fainted owl Pokemon.

The elder withdrew his Hoothoot and sent out his Bellsprout.

"Bellsprout!" exclaimed the elder.

Ned decided to withdraw his Hoothoot and send out his Victreebel.

"Victreebel!" shouted the pitcher Pokemon.

As soon as the elder's Bellsprout saw Victreebel, he began to bow down to her.

"Bellsprout! Bellsprout!" exclaimed the elder's Bellsprout. He was not worthy!

"I wonder what's going on..." questioned the elder.

"Maybe because my Victreebel is a Pokemon that a Bellsprout would look up to?" inquired Ned.

"Oh..." stated the elderly man. That made sense.

Since Ned had won, he could receive a prize.

"Why don't you have this Poliwag that I got from the local fisherman? He said that it was really valuable...but he doesn't seem interested in obeying me..." pointed out the elder.

Immediately, the elder released his Poliwag from the Pokeball.

"Poliwag..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"I wonder what he wants from a Pokemon trainer?" questioned Ned.

"I think he wants a Pokemon trainer that's rather strong..." stated the elder.

"A strong Pokemon trainer, you say?" inquired the boy.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"I know just the one..." answered Ned.

Immediately, Ned brought Poliwag to where Chris was.

"Huh? Is that Pokemon for me?" questioned Chris.

"Yeah..." nodded Ned.

Curious, Poliwag decided to take a look at Chris.

"Is there something that he wants?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"He wants a Pokemon trainer that's rather strong..." explained Ned.

"Oh..." answered Chris.

Immediately, she lifted Poliwag by the tail and held him above her face.

"Is that strong enough for you?" inquired the girl.

Poliwag nodded. He was actually impressed...and he wasn't easily impressed either.

"Good." stated Chris.

Wasting no time, she tossed a Pokeball at Poliwag. A few seconds later, he had been caught.

"Alright then. Since he thinks he's so strong, maybe I'll use him against the gym leader..." acknowledged the Pokemon trainer.

 _Meanwhile..._

Curious, Lucy and Jake noticed that there seemed to be a man standing in Route 32 not letting in any Pokemon trainers without the Zephyr Badge.

"What are you doing?" questioned Lucy.

"There's been a group of shady individuals gathering around Azalea Town lately..." explained the man.

"Oh really?" inquired Jake.

"I figure that they should get the Zephyr Badge from Falkner before heading there..." stated the adult.

"I suppose you probably make a good point..." nodded Lucy.

"Clefairy?" questioned Lucy's Clefairy. Did they have a connection to Sarah?

Perhaps it would be best if they fought the gym leader before coming through.

"I wonder what we should use to fight him..." questioned Lucy.

"Well, there seems to be some Pokemon hiding in the grass..." answered Jake.

Lucy nodded. This just might be a good place to catch some more Pokemon.

She got the feeling that one of them would be effective against the gym leader.

 _Unfortunately for Jerry, he's still not having any luck fighting Chris, even with his new Pokemon. Better luck next time, eh?_

 _In the next chapter, the Ruins Of Alph are going to show up. The first Gym Leader will be fought soon, I promise. I will admit that there is a lot of content to cover though._


	9. Chapter 9: Spelling The Alphabet

_In this chapter, Ned is going to visit the Ruins Of Alph. However, someone else is going to be there as well. And in case you're wondering, it's not going to be Chris. It's going to be someone else._

 _Alto, this chapter is going to feature the Unown. Since this fanfic takes place in Johto, I figured it would be a good idea to include them somehow. This seemed like a good way to do it._

 **Chapter 9: Spelling The Alphabet**

On the way to the Ruins Of Alph, Ned noticed that there was a tree up ahead. It was rather strange. It didn't look like any trees that had seen...not at Kanto at least.

Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the road. It appeared that he wasn't going to get past it. He was just going to have to go elsewhere for now. He wondered what was on the other side.

Perhaps this was why there didn't seem to be many people coming to the Ruins Of Alph.

He sure hoped that it would be cleared up soon. Trainers had places to go.

Immediately, he ventured into the ruins.

"I wonder why there are ruins so close to Violet City..." questioned Ned. Did some sort of ancient civilization exist here? Perhaps they were catching Pokemon even back then, though maybe not with Pokeballs.

Nearby was a laboratory. Apparently, there were scientists studying the Ruins Of Alph.

He wondered if they were studying something in particular.

He decided to go inside the laboratory. Maybe he could help them.

Currently, they were all engrossed in their research.

Strangely, they seemed to be reading books containing strange letters. What did those letters represent?

At that very moment, the head scientist noticed him.

"How may I help you?" asked the man.

"I'm visiting the Ruins Of Alph..." answered Ned. So far he was exploring outside the ruins, though there didn't seem to be too much to see.

"In that case, you might want to visit the ruins themselves. There's still information about them that we haven't discovered." stated the head scientist.

"Hmm..." thought the boy. HE could learn something from visiting the ruins. Well, he had the time so he might as well.

As it turned out, though there was a tree in the middle of the road, there were still several tourists visiting the ruins.

Curious, he wondered why somebody hadn't simply chopped down the tree so that people could get to Ecruteak City and Goldenrod City. It seemed like a rather simple solution.

He decided to ask one of the tourists if the lumberjacks had tried that.

"Have they tried chopping down the tree?" asked Ned.

"They've tried that...but for some strange reason whenever they use an axe it simply bounces off..." explained a tourist.

"That's rather unusual.." noted the boy. What kind of tree was it if an axe couldn't chop it down?

Now that he thought of it, he could have sworn the tree moved one of its branches for its second...even though there wasn't any wind.

It certainly was a rather unusual tree.

Well, it looked like he would have to ignore the tree for now and focus on battling the gym leader. Maybe he would be able to continue his Pokemon journey regardless of the tree in the road.

After touring the ruins, he decided to look elsewhere to see if there were any scientists that needed help.

As it turned out, one of the scientists was trying to figure out a puzzle.

"Do you need help?" asked Ned.

"I'm trying to figure out this jigsaw puzzle...but unfortunately I can't seem to figure out what the picture is supposed to be..." stated the scientist.

Curious, Ned decided to take a look.

Apparently, the jigsaw puzzle was that of a Pokemon.

Likewise, his Eevee jumped out of his Pokeball and began to investigate his surroundings.

"Interesting..." stated Ned.

At that very moment, Sarah walked in.

"Huh?" inquired the boy.

"What are you doing?" asked Sarah.

"I'm trying to figure out a jigsaw puzzle..." explained Ned.

"Oh! Can I try?" inquired the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Sure...mind you, not even the scientist over here can figure it out..." stated the boy.

Immediately, Sarah began to work the puzzle.

"Let's see now..." stated the girl.

Quickly, she began to work out the puzzle, trying to use it to form an image.

In just a few minutes, she was done.

"Alright! I got it!" exclaimed Sarah.

"I'm impressed! Not even I could figure it out!" bellowed the scientist. Maybe he needed to do some more jigsaw puzzles.

Ned was surprised at how smart Sarah was. Apparently, although she was rather goofy, she was rather smart too.

Suddenly, the floor began to collapse.

"Whoa!" bellowed Sarah.

"What's going on?!" exclaimed Ned. The floor had seemed so stable a few moments ago.

"Eevee!" shouted Ned's Eevee. Good thing he always landed on his feet.

"Totodile!" bellowed Sarah's Totodile.

The scientist gasped in shock.

Fortunately, it was not a long fall, so Sarah, Ned, and her Totodile were alright. Of course, Totodile would not need to worry about a long fall as he was rather resilient.

"That was scary..." remarked Sarah as she helped to her feet.

"Tell me about it." stated Ned.

As it turned out, they were inside the Ruins Of Alph.

"Wait...where did everyone go?" questioned the boy.

"It seems like it's just us..." acknowledged Sarah.

Ned wondered why everyone had left in such a hurry.

Suddenly, he noticed that the letters carved on the walls seemed to be glowing.

"How peculiar..." thought Ned. Last time he checked, the letters at the Ruins Of Alph weren't glowing at all. However, it was possible that they glowed in the dark.

"What's going on?" questioned the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Totodile..." remarked Sarah's Totodile. This was getting creepy.

Shortly afterwards, the Unown began to slide off the walls. Apparently they had been sleeping until Sarah woke them up by completing the puzzle.

"Whoa!" bellowed Sarah. Apparently, the letters in the Ruins of Alph were Pokemon the whole time...and rather mysterious Pokemon at that.

Sarah decided to scan the Unown to see if there was anything that she should know about them.

"Unown, the Symbol Pokemon. Little is known about these Pokemon...what is known is that they come in many different shapes." stated the Pokedex.

Sure enough, the Unown did in fact come in many different shapes. In fact, there was one for every letter of the alphabet.

Ned got the feeling that there were other puzzles in the ruins that he could solve. He should probably try it sometime.

"I wonder how we're going to get out of here..." questioned Ned. He doubted that they could simply go back through the hole that they had fallen from unless there was some sort of ladder.

Fortunately, the Unown were nice and helped Ned and Sarah out of the ruins.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Sarah.

As they did so, they left behind two maps.

"Interesting..." stated the Team Shadow Grunt. Now she could find her away throughout Johto...assuming that she didn't keep bumping into things.

Likewise, Ned was glad to have a map as well. However, the Unown didn't give him a map of the ruins. Perhaps he was going to need to find another entrance if he wanted to continue further.

He also heard that there were some Pokemon living outside the ruins. He wondered if he should try catching them.

For now, he was going to try battling Falkner. Maybe he could get the Zephyr Badge so that he could walk home free.

Sure enough, Chris was getting ready to fight him.

"There you are! I've been wondering where you were..." questioned Chris.

"Sorry, i got sidetracked..." explained Ned.

"Well, I'm going to fight the Gym Leader first..." stated the girl.

Sure enough, there was Falkner, the flying type master himself.

"So...you wish to fight me? My father used to be a gym leader once...but he's retired since then..." explained Falkner.

"I wonder where he is...I haven't seen him anywhere in Johto..." questioned Ned.

"Yeah...a lot of people never seem to find him..." remarked the flying gym leader.

Ned noticed that Falkner had a large collection of bird Pokemon.

"Anyways...go, Pidgey!" exclaimed Falkner.

"Pidgey!" shouted Falkner's Pidgey.

"I've taken down bigger birds than this...go, Poliwag!" shouted Chris.

"Poliwag!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Immediately, Falkner ordered Pidgey to peck Poliwag.

Pidgey was eager to obey his master.

However, when he approached him, Poliwag simply squirted him away with his Water Gun.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed Falkner's Pidgey. It looked like he couldn't get too close without getting splashed.

"Try using Mud-Slap!" ordered Falkner.

Pidgey nodded, and used Mud-Slap to strike Poliwag.

However, Poliwag simply washed away the mud.

"I guess this is why he wanted a strong trainer..." remarked Chris. He certainly was a tough Poliwag. She wondered how strong he would be once he become a Poliwhirl and when she used a Water Stone to become a Poliwrath.

"You remind me of Lucy's Pidgey before she evolved into a Pidgeotto and a Pidgeot..." stated Chris. Speaking of which, she got the feeling that she would challenge Falkner herself sooner or later. There was a man outside asking trainers to get their Zephyr Badges before continuing on.

"My father has a Pidgeot..." remarked Falkner. Unfortunately, it was as if he was the only person who had ever seen him.

Pidgey at this point was feeling rather tired.

"Use Whirlwind!" ordered Falkner.

Pidgey nodded, and used Whirlwind to try to blow Poliwag away.

However, Poliwag stood his ground.

He then finished Pidgey off with a Body Slam.

"Pidgey..." murmured the fainted bird Pokemon. He wasn't expecting a Pokemon trainer without a single Johto gym badge to have a Pokemon that strong.

Apparently Chris was rather tough. Of course, now that he thought of it...Chris had apparently battled Gym Leaders in Kanto previously.

"Good job...I'm going to send my Pidgeotto now...you ready?" questioned Falkner.

"Well, I managed to take down your Pidgey no problem so I would imagine I am ready..." nodded Chris.

Poliwag was feeling a bit tired after his scuffle with Pidgey but other than that he was ready to battle as well.

"Alright then! Go, Pidgeotto!" exclaimed Falkner.

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed Falkner's Pidgeotto as he materialized from his Pokeball.

Since Pidgeotto was Pidgey's evolved form, he would likely prove to be a stronger opponent than Pidgey was.

Nonetheless, Chris got the feeling that she could take him.

"Use Bubble!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Poliwag nodded, and used a Bubble to trap Pidgeotto.

However, it burst shortly afterwards.

"Pidgeotto, use Wing Attack!" instructed Falkner.

Falkner's Pidgeotto nodded, and used his wings to attack Poliwag.

"Pidgeotto!" shouted the large bird Pokemon as he struck.

Unfortunately for Poliwag, Pidgeotto had rather large wings so it hurt.

"Poliwag..." murmured Chris's Poliwag. It would probably be a good idea to go rest at the Pokemon Center after this battle. Besides, Nurse Joy was a rather friendly girl.

Poliwag countered by using Hypnosis.

Pidgeotto began to feel rather sleepy.

"Pidgeotto..." murmured the bird Pokemon. How could he fight if he was feeling so tired?

He began to doze off.

"Pidgeotto!" exclaimed Falkner.

Poliwag seized his opportunity and Body Slammed Pidgeotto. Now if only he had arms so that he could punch his opponents.

Pidgeotto fainted.

Poliwag panted with exhaustion. It had been hard work, but he did.

"I guess I still have a lot of work to do before following my father's footsteps, don't I? Well, I suppose since you managed to beat me you deserve a gym badge..." noted Falkner.

Falkner immediately handed Chris a Zephyr Badge.

"Alright! I got it!" exclaimed Chris.

"Congratulations! Now then, I suppose I'll be handing out more Zephyr Badges shortly..." remarked Falkner. His dad would likely be proud of him now that he got to be the Violet City Gym Leader.

Ned decided to challenge Falkner next.

 _Meanwhile..._

"Shouldn't we go fight the Gym Leader?" questioned Jake.

"I know we probably should...but I get the feeling that there are Pokemon that we can catch here..." stated Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She wondered which Pokemon they could find here. Probably ones that they hadn't encountered in Kanto.

At that very moment, they did encounter a Pokemon.

It was a Mareep.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the sheep Pokemon. Currently, the wild Pokemon was grazing on some grass, on account on being a herbivore.

Jake decided to scan the Mareep with his Pokedex.

"Mareep, the Wool Pokemon. Its wool gathers static electricity. Touching it will shock you." warned Jake's Pokedex. In addition, this Mareep was female.

Sure enough, Lucy was trying to pet the Mareep.

"Um, Lucy, that's not a good i-"

"Ouch!" exclaimed Lucy. As it turned out, she did get shocked when she tried petting the Mareep. Luckily, it was a rather mild shock.

"You alright?" asked Jake.

"I think so. Darn it, I met a cute Pokemon and I can't pet her!" pouted Lucy.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be wool on her face..." pointed out Jake.

"What? Oh..." stated the girl.

Immediately, she tried petting Mareep's face.

Fortunately, she didn't get zapped that time.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the fluffy Pokemon.

"I think she wants to be my Pokemon!" cheered Lucy.

"Are you sure? She seems rather docile..." remarked Jake. She probably wouldn't be too interested in battling other Pokemon.

Mareep did admit that she wasn't the type of Pokemon to pick a fight (as she could simply use her wool to keep herself safe from any Pokemon that could bother her aside from ground types...which generally weren't in her area), but she was willing to do so for her Pokemon trainer.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the sheep Pokemon.

"What? Never mind then..." stated the savvy boy.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy caught Mareep with her Pokeball.

For some strange reason, she got the feeling that she should try using her new Pokemon against the Gym Leader...it was just a hunch.

"You ready to fight the Gym Leader?" questioned Jake.

"Now seems like a good time..." nodded Lucy.

Together, they went to combat Falkner.

 _That was an interesting episode wasn't it? And Lucy and Jake are going to challenge Falkner...and yes, it took ten chapters for the first gym battle to begin...you're probably wanting me to pick up the pace._

 _I also decided to make the Unown give Ned and Sarah since I'm not the type of person to add filler to my fanfics. I don't want the fanfics to be longer than they need to be._

 _Of course, in the first fanfic it took me nine chapters to reach the first gym battle...so maybe it's not going much slower._


	10. Chapter 10: Birds Of A Feather

_In this chapter, there's going to be some more gym battles. Also, we're going to see some Team Shadow Grunts. You can probably guess what they're selling..._

 **Chapter 10: Birds Of A Feather**

As Sarah left, she noticed two Team Shadow Grunts standing right outside Violet City. What were they possibly planning?

At that very moment, they noticed her as well.

"Hey, Jellylegs! We're selling Slowpoketails!" exclaimed one of the Team Shadow Grunts.

"Slowpoketails?" questioned Sarah.

Sure enough, they were carrying bags of Slowpoketails.

"Yeah...you'd be surprised how well they sell." answered another Team Shadow Grunt.

"Wait, why do you call me Jellylegs?" inquired the girl.

Her question was answered when she lost her balance and fell on her stomach.

"Oh." said Sarah.

"If you need more, try going to the Slowpoke Well. We're in a middle of an operation there." continued one of the Team Shadow Grunts.

"Isn't that kind of...cruel to the Pokemon?" questioned Sarah. She was under the impression that the Slowpokes would want them NOT to do that.

"Relax. Slowpoke tails grow back fast. Besides, Slowpokes hardly feel pain." answered the other Team Shadow Grunt.

"I suppose that makes sense." stated the female Team Shadow Grunt. Still, she wondered if Officer Jenny was going to find out about their operation and shut it down. She would not tolerate Pokemon cruelty...or cruelty against people for that matter.

Immediately, one of the Team Shadow Grunts handed her a bag of her own.

"Hmm...where I should sell these?" questioned Sarah.

Sarah quickly determined that it was not a good idea to try selling them in Violet City. If Officer Jenny witnessed her doing so, she would try to shut her down for sure.

She would need to try elsewhere.

She decided to try going south. She heard that there was a Pokemon Center close to the Union Cave.

On the way there, she met the man who was demanding Pokemon trainers get the Zephyr Badge before going to visit Azalea Town.

"Hey! You should really get the Zephyr Badge before coming through h-"

Suddenly, he realized who he was talking to.

"Aah! It's a member of Team Shadow!" bellowed the man.

Frantically, he hid behind some bushes.

Sarah simply continued walking to the Pokemon Center.

On the way there, she decided to sit on a rock.

"You're probably hungry again, aren't you Totodile?" questioned Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. His Pokemon trainer certainly understood him.

"Alright then." answered the girl as she pulled out some Pokechow.

However, as she was feeding Totodile, a wild Pokemon suddenly crept from the bushes. This particularly wild Pokemon had a forked tongue.

It was an Ekans. The snake Pokemon had noticed the egg that Sarah was carrying in her backpack.

And the serpent Pokemon was up for an omelette.

"Ekans..." hissed the wild Ekans as the reptile slithered over to Sarah's Pokemon egg.

However, Sarah's Totodile noticed the wild Ekans, and decided to take a bite.

"Ekans!" exclaimed the wild Ekans. Those teeth were sharp.

Quickly, Sarah noticed that her Totodile and the Ekans were fighting.

"How do I break them up?" asked Sarah.

She then remembered that she had some Pokeballs.

"Oh right..." remembered the young girl.

Immediately, she tossed a Pokeball at the wild Ekans.

"Alright, I got it!" exclaimed Sarah.

She then scanned the Ekans with her Pokedex.

"Ekans, the Snake Pokemon! It has a tendency to hide in grass. When first born, it is not poisonous, so being bitten is harmless, if painful!" exclaimed Sarah's Pokedex.

"P.S. Ekans have infrared vision..." read Sarah.

This one happened to be a girl.

"Well, I guess that's the second Pokemon I've caught." noted the girl.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile.

Sarah wondered what she should do with it.

Well, for now she should go look for the Pokemon Center.

Problem is...she had no idea where it was. It was a shame since a lot of Pokemon trainers would inevitably be gathered there.

Suddenly, she got an idea. Didn't the Pokedex say that Ekans had infrared vision? She might be able to use hers to pick up a heat signature.

"Go, Ekans!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Ekans!" bellowed Ekans.

"Excuse me, could you help me find a Pokemon Center?" asked the Team Shadow Grunt.

Ekans nodded. It was the least that she could do since they were partners now.

Immediately, she stuck her forked tongue out.

Sure enough, there was a large amount of heat in a nearby area...

...that area happened to be the Pokemon Center!

"Alright, you did it! Give me f-oh wait, you don't have hands...maybe you could use your tail?" questioned Sarah.

Ekans nodded. That seemed like a good alternative.

Immediately, she gave her trainer a high five using her trainer.

"Now all I need to do is give them some Slowpoketails..." noted Sarah.

Already, her Ekans was starting to munch on one.

"Ekans, those are for the customers..." explained the girl.

"Ekans..." murmured the sad snake Pokemon.

Curious, she noticed that Totodile was munching on a Slowpoketail as well.

"Didn't you hear what I said to Ekans?" asked Sarah.

"Totodile..." muttered the depressed crocodile Pokemon.

Immediately, Sarah stood outside the Pokemon Center and began to sell Slowpoketails.

"This might be a good business..." noted Sarah.

 _Meanwhile..._

"You ready to fight the Gym Leader, Lucy?" questioned Jake.

"I sure am!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Which Pokemon are you going to send out first?" asked the preteen boy.

"I think I'll send out my Mareep." noted the girl.

Immediately, she sent out her new Mareep.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the sheep Pokemon.

"I think we need to cut your wool a bit." said Lucy.

Mareep nodded.

Immediately, her Clefairy pulled out some scissors.

"You better not run with those." warned the young girl.

Clefairy nodded.

"Did you steal them?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy..." said Lucy's Clefairy. She had been caught red-handed.

"Something tells me you got them from the Pokemon School..." noted the young girl.

Immediately, Clefairy used the scissors to cut some of Mareep's wool.

"Feeling better now?" asked Lucy.

"Mareep!" nodded Lucy's Mareep. Once she evolved, she wouldn't need to shave her wool nearly as much.

Immediately, Lucy stepped inside the gym along with her Mareep and her Clefairy.

"Are you ready to challenge me? I see you brought an electric-type...rather clever." noted Falkner.

"Yeah...I figured I would plan ahead." nodded Lucy.

"Good...but don't assume that I'm going to win just because you have a type advantage..." warned the Gym Leader.

"I expected as much..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Hoothoot, i choose you!" exclaimed Falkner.

"Hoothoot!" bellowed the owl Pokemon.

"Go, Mareep!" shouted Lucy.

"Mareep!" exclaimed Lucy's Mareep.

Immediately, Hoothoot used Whirlwind to try to blow Mareep away.

However, Mareep stood her ground.

Immediately, she zapped Hoothoot with electricity.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Falkner's Hoothoot.

In retaliation, she attempted to peck Mareep.

"Um, Hoothoot, I don't think that such's a good idea..." warned Falkner.

"Hoothoot?" questioned Falkner's Hoothoot as she pecked Mareep.

Unsurprisingly, she ended up getting zapped, and Hoothoot fainted.

"Good job...but I'll have you know this is a two-on-two battle..." stated Falkner.

"Alright..." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Falkner sent out his Pidgeotto.

"Pidgeotto, go!" exclaimed Falkner.

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed Pidgeotto.

"Maybe I should have sent out my Pidgeot..." acknowledged Lucy.

On the other hand, her Pidgeot seemed to be enjoying herself in Professor Oak's bird cage. Maybe she should let her stay inside for a bit longer.

Unfortunately for Mareep, Pidgeotto did not try attacking Mareep at close-range.

Instead, he swallowed Mareep up in a twister.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the sheep Pokemon as she was sent flying.

As soon as the twister disappeared, Mareep collapsed on the ground. She had fainted.

"It's up to you now, Clefairy..." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She was going to do her best...that was what her trainer wanted her to do, right?

Once again, Pidgeotto sent a twister towards Clefairy.

However, Clefairy used Metronome.

Immediately, Clefairy sent the twister right back at Pidgeotto, who ended up being caught in his own attack.

Pidgeotto ended up fainting.

"I can't say I'm not impressed." noted Falkner. "Maybe you should try challenging my dad...he's one of the strongest bird Pokemon trainers out there."

"Maybe he could challenge my dad...he's really strong. He's been in the Pokemon League several different times." suggested Lucy.

At that very moment, Jake showed up.

"Is it my turn?" asked Jake.

"Yes. Let's fight now, shall we?" inquired the flying type Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, he noticed Clefairy doing something that she shouldn't.

As it turned out, she was being rather mischievous and was picking the lock on one of the bird cages.

"What are you doing?" asked Lucy.

"Stop that!" bellowed Falkner.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Clefairy ended up opening the bird cage and she let out a Pidgeot.

And to make matters worse, the bird cage tipped over and ended up releasing several other birds as well.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed a Pidgey.

"Spearow!" bellowed a Spearow.

"Hoothoot!" shouted a Hoothoot.

"Hoppip!" yelled out a Hoppip.

"Farfetch'd!" exclaimed a Farfetch'd.

Immediately, the five of them left their cages and began to fly elsewhere.

"What should we do?" asked Lucy.

"I don't think they'll get too far...we should search for them." nodded Falkner.

Suddenly, Jake remembered that he had a Pokemon that could help with catching the bird Pokemon.

He decided to send out his Sentret.

"Sentret!" exclaimed the Pokemon.

"Hey, Sentret. You're a good lookout, are you not? I think you might be able to help us.." noted Jake.

"Sentret?" questioned the sentry Pokemon. What exactly did they need help with?

Falkner pulled out pictures of the bird Pokemon that had escaped from their bird cages.

Sentret nodded. He could help them look.

Immediately, Jake and Lucy stepped outside.

Sure enough, the Pidgey was right outside, pecking the ground.

Sentret quickly pointed out the Pidgey to his trainer.

Jake picked up the Pidgey and put it back in her bird cage.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed the Pidgey. It looked like she was going back home.

Next up was the Spearow. She was on top of a tree, thinking about making a nest.

Sentret quickly climbed up the tree and grabbed Spearow for his trainer.

Jake put the Spearow back in her cage as well.

"Spearow!" exclaimed Spearow. Perhaps she didn't need a nest after all.

Next up was a Hoppip, who was bouncing around.

"Wait...you're not a bird Pokemon." noted Jake.

"Well, she is a flying type..." answered Lucy.

"True..." nodded Jake as he put Hoppip in her cage.

Next up was Farfetch'd. He was looking for some sticks.

"Farfetch'd?" questioned the bird Pokemon. It would always help to have a spare.

Since Farfetch'd already had a stick, Jake put Farfetch'd back in his bird cage.

"Farfetch'd." stated the bird Pokemon. Now that he thought of it, there were a lot of sticks inside the cage. Maybe he shouldn't have left.

Now all that was left was Hoothoot. Since it was the daytime, he was feeling rather sleepy.

"Hoothoot..." murmured the sleepy bird Pokemon.

This made him rather easy to catch and put back inside his bird cage.

"Thanks for the help, Sentret." said Jake.

"Sentret!" exclaimed Sentret. It was his job to be a lookout.

"Wait, what about the Pidgeot?" asked Lucy.

"I took care of that one myself." answered Falkner.

"Oh, that's a relief. I'm sorry for the trouble." apologized the girl.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. She wasn't going to try picking locks using bird cages in the future.

"It's alright...anyways, you're probably wanting a reward, aren't you?" inquired the Gym Leader.

"I suppose that would be alright if it's OK with you..." nodded Jake.

"It sure is. Here is your Zephyr Badge..." said Falkner.

"The Zephyr Badge?" questioned the boy.

"Well, you sure proved yourself to be resourceful...I think you have what it takes to be a Pokemon trainer..." answered the flying Pokemon trainer.

"If you say so..." nodded Jake.

"I guess we should get going now..." answered Lucy.

"You've got a point there." nodded Lucy's older partner.

"Let's go!" exclaimed Jake's younger partner.

Immediately, the two of them went to search for more Pokemon...and for another gym.

"I'll give you a hint...the next Gym Leader uses bug types!" exclaimed Falkner. He would probably dominate that gym now that he thought of it. However, he had decided on giving out badges instead of receiving them. He already had trained himself to be like his father, after all.

Well, if he changed his mind, he could simply fly his Pokemon all around Johto. They had been in all sorts of places.

At that very moment, Ned and Chris showed up.

"Are you here for a rematch?" asked Falkner.

"Yes, he is. Don't keep me waiting." demanded Chris.

"Yes, Chris!" exclaimed Ned.

This time, he had sent Hoppip to Professor Elm's Lab for the time being. He didn't want a repeat as to what happened last time.

Right now she was hopping through the meadows.

"Hoothoot, I choose you!" bellowed the boy.

 _It looks like Lucy has a Zephyr Badge now. That means she can make her way towards Azalea Town where the next badge is. Of course, she could have simply gone to Goldenrod or Ecruteak if it weren't for that strange tree. Darn it._


	11. Chapter 11: Tails Of A Slowpoke

In _this chapter, Ned's going to rematch Falkner while Sarah attempts to sell Slowpoke tails. However, the price is quite absurd..._

 **Chapter 11: Tails Of A Slowpoke**

"So...why are we training Pokémon in the middle of the night?" asked Lucy.

"Well, back when I used to work for Team Rocket, they would encourage me not to go outside in the middle of the daytime since I risked being caught by Officer Jenny...maybe the habit just stuck to me," suggested Jake.

Of course, they had gone through places like forests and caverns in the past, but so far Jake and Lucy had simply gone through routes.

"Besides, I like looking at the stars at the night..." said Jake. If he saw a shooting star, then maybe he could make a wish. Of course, that shooting star might be a Clefairy spaceship. Lucy had told him about the night before she had a chance encounter with her Clefairy.

"So does my Clefairy, apparently." answered Lucy.

Sure enough, Lucy's Clefairy seemed to be enjoying herself, though she wasn't necessarily a nocturnal Pokemon. She just liked living in caverns.

Suddenly, a Wooper came crawling out of the mud, letting out a yawn.

"Huh? What Pokémon is that?" questioned Lucy. It looked like a water type...yet it seemed rather muddy.

"It looks like it's some sort of water Pokémon native to Johto..." suggested Jake.

At that very moment, the Wooper spotted them.

"Wooper?" inquired the wetland Pokémon.

Jake scanned the Wooper with his Pokedex. What could this Pokemon possibly be?

Well, he already knew that it wasn't a very big Pokemon, though he also knew that Pokemon that were small had a tendency to evolve into Pokemon that were bigger.

Eventually, the Pokemon appeared onscreen along with some information.

"Wooper, the Water Fish Pokémon. Normally it lives in water, but it's willing to go on land if it's cold outside." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"That explains why it came out at night." comprehended Jake. This particular Wooper was male. In addition, it was both water and a ground type.

"A water and a ground type? That's a rather strange combination." remarked Lucy. She wouldn't be surprised if Woopers were terrified of grass Pokemon.

The Wooper tilted his head to the side, gazing at the duo curiously. Apparently Pokemon Trainers didn't always visit this route during the day.

Since he had taken an interest in the duo, Jake decided to toss a Pokeball at him.

The Wooper was rather surprised, and he fell over. Of course, he had seen Pokemon trainers do that to other Wooper on a regular basis...but he never thought that it would happen to him.

As soon as he got up, the Pokeball dinged.

Jake decided to send out his new Wooper afterwards.

"Wooper, go!" exclaimed Jake.

"Wooper!" bellowed Jake's Wooper.

"I wonder if there's a Pokémon Center nearby..." questioned Lucy.

Curious, Jake's Wooper noticed that someone appeared to be selling Slowpoke tails. Who would be cutting off Slowpoke tails and selling them for money? It seemed like a pretty horrid practice.

He decided to alert them of the nearest Pokemon Center, though he didn't feel getting too close to whoever was selling Slowpoke tails. What if they started selling Wooper tails next?

Taking a closer look, he discovered that it was none other than Sarah.

"Sarah? What are you doing?" asked Jake.

"I'm selling Slowpoke tails. You want some? They're one million Pokedollars." said Sarah.

Jake's eyes widened in shock.

"One million Pokedollars?!" shouted the boy in astonishment. How exactly was he supposed to get that kind of money?

"I'll throw in a free egg!" exclaimed Sarah.

Curious, Jake wondered where Sarah had gotten such an egg. It didn't look any egg that he had ever seen. It had all sorts of different shapes on it.

"I don't have that type of money..." answered Jake.

"Aww..." complained Sarah.

Suddenly, she noticed Lucy.

"Wait a minute! I heard that your parents are loaded! Maybe you could afford the Slowpoke tails!" exclaimed the girl.

"There's no way I'm buying Slowpoke tails! That's Pokemon cruelty!" shouted Lucy. She may be rich, but there were still some things that she wasn't going to buy.

"Dang it!" bellowed Sarah.

"Totodile..." murmured Totodile. This was not a booming business. Was the Ekans that Sarah caught recently scaring away the customers?

"C'mon, let's go to Union Cave." said Lucy.

Jake nodded.

 _Back at Violet City..._

"Hey Falkner, you up for a rematch?" asked Ned, knocking on the door to the gym.

Falkner answered the door.

"Is your Hoppip going to hop out of your Pokeball again? I wouldn't want any trouble..." questioned Falkner.

"I think my Hoppip is asleep right now..." answered Ned.

On the other hand, he had a feeling that his Hoothoot was wide awake, since it was in the middle of the night. Hoothoots were a nocturnal species, after all.

"You ready?" asked Falkner.

Ned nodded.

"Pidgey, go!" exclaimed the Gym Leader.

Unfortunately for Falkner, his Pidgey was currently taking a snooze.

"Pidge...pidge..." murmured Pidgey.

"Dang it! That's one of my Pokemon down the drain...I guess I'll just have to send out my Pidgeotto and hope he's not so tired..." said Falkner.

Falkner did just that, sending out his Pidgeotto.

"Pidgeotto!" exclaimed Pidgeotto. Fortunately for Falkner, it appeared that Pidgeotto was an early bird.

"Go, Hoothoot!" shouted Ned.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Ned's Hoothoot. Much like Pidgeotto, she could stay awake at night as well.

"Pidgeotto, use Wing Attack!" ordered Falkner, pointing at Hoothoot.

Pidgeotto agreed to his master's request and hit Hoothoot with Wing Attack.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed the owl Pokemon. That really stung.

In retaliation, Hoothoot hit Pidgeotto with Confusion, confusing him.

However, Pidgeotto managed to temporarily shrug off the confusion and hit Hoothoot with a well-placed Peck. And no, it was not a peck on the cheek.

Hoothoot fainted.

Now that Hoothoot was down to the count, Ned decided to send out his Eevee. Hopefully he would be able to battle even at night...otherwise he would lose.

"Go, Eevee!" exclaimed Ned.

Fortunately, his Eevee could still battle at night. Apparently he had forgotten how energetic the rabbit Pokemon was.

"Pidgeotto, use Peck!" ordered Falkner.

Pidgeotto attempted to peck Eevee, but he dodged and scratched Pidgeotto in the face with his claws.

"Pidgeotto!" exclaimed Falkner's Pidgeotto. For such a cute-looking Pokemon Eevee was an efficient fighter. Of course, Ned had used his Eevee longer than any of his other Pokemon.

"Pidgeotto, use Wing Attack!" shouted Falkner.

Pidgeotto used Wing Attack...

...only to find his opponent had mysteriously disappeared.

Where did he go?

"Pidgeotto?" questioned the confused bird Pokemon. Were his eyes playing tricks on him?

"Gee, I sure hope that my Pokemon didn't suddenly walk out on me..." thought Ned. If so, he had already lost the Pokemon battle.

He was aware that each of his Pokemon reflected his personality in some way (though sometimes they were the opposite of what other Pokemon trainers would expect him to have) but he thought he and his Pokemon were braver than that.

Fortunately, it turned out that Eevee hadn't left him earlier.

Suddenly, Eevee popped out from a nearby hole.

"Eevee!" exclaimed Eevee.

"Pidgeotto?" questioned the bird Pokemon.

"Pidgeotto, he's behind you!" warned Falkner.

"Pidgeotto?" asked Pidgeotto.

Before Pidgeotto could spot Eevee, he hit him from behind with Take Down.

Pidgeotto fainted on the spot.

Eevee took some damage, of course, but it didn't really matter now. His trainer had won!

"Congratulations, you managed to beat me this time. Maybe you'll be as tough as my father someday. Anyways, here is your Zephyr Badge." said Falkner.

"Yes! I did it!" exclaimed Ned.

"Finally! Now we can challenge the next Gym Leader!" shouted Chris. She was getting tired of waiting for Ned to triumph over Falkner.

"The next Gym Leader? That's in Azalea Town, I believe." answered Falkner. Ironically, he heard that the Gym Leader closest to him was a bug Type trainer.

"I guess we better get going then." suggested Ned.

Chris nodded her head with agreement. She could hardly wait to get her second Johto badge.

 _Back at Route 32..._

Unfortunately for Sarah, nobody had bothered buying Slowpoke tails from her. Why did the Team Shadow Grunts want to charge a million dollars?

It was a mystery.

At that very moment, two evil-looking individuals showed up, as well as their Pokemon, a Meowth. That's right. A Meowth.

"Who the heck are you guys?" questioned Sarah. For a moment, she thought that they were Team Shadow Grunts much like herself. However, she realized this was not the case when she realized that they were wearing red Rs on their uniform. Why were they dressed like that?

Likewise, the criminals noticed that she was selling Slowpoke tails...even though chopping off the tails of a Slowpoke was illegal in Johto.

It was none other than Jessie and James...and of course Meowth.

"We're Team Rocket!" exclaimed James.

Sarah was confused.

"Team Rocket? I thought that they were disbanded after their leader Giovanni got arrested and sent to the clink..." questioned Sarah.

"Yes, they did! It was because of that idiot and traitor, Jake! Curse him!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Wait a minute...Jake did this to you?" asked Sarah.

"Yes, he did! Now Team Rocket is no more!" cried James.

"Wow...Jake is quite the hero." remarked the girl.

"When we catch him we're going to pilfer him of all his hard-earned cash!" exclaimed Meowth.

"His hard-earned cash, you say? I think he was heading to Azalea Town..." noted Sarah.

"Thanks, kid! Maybe you're not a twerp like those other kids we run into..." stated Jessie.

Suddenly, Totodile noticed that Jessie's hair looked rather...tasty.

Since he was feeling hungry, he decided to take a bite out of her hair.

CHOMP!

"Ow! My hair!" exclaimed Jessie.

"How dare you! You're a twerp just like all the other kids we encounter!" bellowed the angry James.

"For that, we're taking all your Slowpoke tails!" shouted Meowth.

Immediately, Meowth, Jessie, and James grabbed onto the Slowpoke tails that she was selling and ran off to their hot air balloon, which was parked nearby.

Sarah attempted to follow them, but she ended up tripping and falling down on her belly.

As soon as she got back to her feet, the hot air balloon was already in the sky. She could hear evil laughter coming from above her head.

"Dang it! It looks like we're out of stock. We're just going to have to get more Slowpoke tails..." remarked Sarah.

"Totodile..." murmured Sarah's Totodile. Maybe biting down on Jessie's hair wasn't such a good idea. He was lucky this trainer had short hair so he wasn't tempted to munch on it.

Ironically, even though she was giving out for free, Team Rocket had not bothered stealing the egg that Professor Elm's assistant had given to her earlier.

Curiously, it was starting to feel rather warm. Had she left it in front of a heating lamp post or something?

At that very moment, she received a phone call from her boss.

"Hello?" asked Sarah.

"Hello, Sarah. How goes the Slowpoke tail selling?" asked her employer. His loyal agents were selling them as they spoke.

"Not very good. I got robbed!" exclaimed the girl.

"You did? Well, that's quite unfortunate...you'll just have to go get new ones...fortunately, we've managed to find a large supply of them...they're located at a well at Azalea Town...you should be able to get there by going through the cavern." explained the man.

"Really? Perfect! I wonder why the Grunts were selling them for one million Pokedollars..." questioned Sarah. Did her employer even have that much money? Being a Team Shadow Grunt did pay pretty well once you got past the whole running from the law thing.

"One million Pokedollars?! That's just plain ridiculous! There's got to be a more reasonable price than that..." said her employer.

"I know, right? I even tried throwing in a free egg but still nobody bought it..." remarked the young girl.

"An egg? I heard that they're giving those out at the Pokemon Daycare...there's no reason for you to head there right now though..." advised the man.

"OK." nodded Sarah.

"Anyways, there's a Team Shadow executive supervising the operation at the well...I would advise you to meet up with him..." informed Sarah's boss.

"You got it." remarked the girl.

Immediately, she headed towards Azalea Town.

 _I think we've just wrapped up the Violet City arc. Now it's time for the Azalea Town arc. In order to get to the next gym, and for Sarah to get to the Slowpoke Well, our protagonists have to go through Union Cave first. One of them will be catching a Pokemon too. How about that?_

 _Oh wait. Hold on. It seems like another Pokemon trainer is going to get a Pokemon as well. That should make things more interesting._

 _See you!_


	12. Chapter 12: United We Stand

In _this chapter, our protagonists are going through the Union Cave. And yes, I said protagonists, not heroes. Technically, Sarah is working for the bad guys so she's not a hero per se...I suppose she's not too malicious though._

 **Chapter 12: United We Stand**

Lucy and Jake entered the cavern, examining the cavern to see where to go next.

Something told Jake that Ned and Chris were already ahead of them. He wasn't quite sure why.

"So, this is the Union Cave? I can see why they would call it that since trainers use it to get from Violet City to Azalea Town..." noted Lucy.

"Yeah...it doesn't seem like a long path though." said Jake.

Fortunately for them, the cavern didn't seem to be a big one...at least, not a first glance. However, there was probably more to it than what they could see, judging from the bodies of water in the cavern.

Perhaps if they had a swimming Pokemon.

Speaking of swimming Pokemon...

At that very moment, a wild Poliwag emerged from the water.

"Poli poli!" exclaimed the wild Poliwag.

Lucy scanned the Poliwag with her Pokedex. Apparently, this Poliwag was female.

"Hmm, according to the Pokedex, Poliwag is the favorite Pokemon of Satoshi Tajiri. I've never heard of him, have you?" asked Lucy.

"No, I haven't. Apparently he loves Poliwags though. Maybe this Poliwag would be interested in meeting him..." suggested Jake.

Lucy decided to toss a Pokeball at the Poliwag. She thought that it was rather cute. Technically, she could have caught one of these back when she was in Kanto...but of course she would probably need a fishing rod for that, and fishing wasn't really her thing.

Besides, it seemed like she was catching enough Pokemon as it was back she was in Kanto.

However, she missed, and the Pokeball ended up falling into the water with a splash.

"Whoops!" exclaimed Lucy.

The Pokeball floated in the water, not catching any Pokemon whatsoever.

"You might want to consider working on your aim, Lucy." suggested Jake.

"Yeah, maybe I should." nodded Lucy.

The wild Poliwag took an interest in the Pokeball.

Immediately, she began to play with it, bouncing up and down.

However, she ended up setting off the capturing mechanism.

"On second thought, maybe you don't need to work on your aim after all." suggested Jake.

Fortunately for Lucy, the Poliwag didn't put in much of a struggle. It wasn't an aggressive Pokemon at all.

Eventually, there was a ding.

"Alright! I did it!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy smiled.

"Good job! But...how are you going to get the Pokeball?" inquired Jake.

"Hmm...I didn't think of that." noted Lucy. It probably wasn't a good idea to simply leave the Pokeball there. That Poliwag probably couldn't get out of the Pokeball on her own.

Fortunately, Lucy's Clefairy had a solution.

Immediately, she pulled out a fishing rod.

She then used it to grab onto the Pokeball and send it to her trainer.

"Great job! Wait, where did you get that fishing rod?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"You stole it? What were you thinking?" questioned the girl.

"Clefairy..." explained the fairy Pokemon.

"Wait, you took this from a con artist?" asked Lucy.

Clefairy nodded. He was using it to catch Magikarp so he could sell them to gullible Pokemon trainers.

Since she didn't want it to be in the wrong hands, she decided to take it from him and maybe use it for herself. Maybe she could use it if she ever lost something and it drifted off to sea.

 _Meanwhile..._

The Magikarp Salesman was sitting in a boat, ready to catch some more Pokemon to sell to unsuspecting Pokemon trainers.

"These are going to be real money makers, I can feel it!" exclaimed the salesman.

However, when he attempted to use the fishing rod, he discovered he no longer has one.

"What the-" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

Apparently, someone had made off with his fishing rod. He had no idea who it was. Of course, he HAD seen a Clefairy taking a look at his backpack, but he assumed that the Clefairy was innocent as it looked.

Unfortunately, it looked like it was just going to have to go back and get a new fishing rod.

However, as he attempted to row his beat back to shore, he suddenly encountered a wild Gyarados.

Unfortunately for him, she was unhappy that he was selling her children to potentially irresponsible Pokemon trainers.

The Gyarados let out a roar.

"I want my mommy!" screamed the Magikarp Salesman.

Elsewhere, Ned suddenly felt like someone was getting what he deserved.

 _Back at Union Cave..._

"Gee, I sure hope that he's alright." remarked Lucy.

"Maybe..." nodded Jake.

At that very moment, Sarah showed up. Apparently, she wasn't selling Slowpoke tails anymore.

"Hey Sarah! Did you give up on selling Slowpoke tails?" asked Lucy.

"Sort of...a group of thugs dressed in white came and robbed me..." answered Sarah.

"Team Rocket? I thought we disbanded them..." suggested Jake.

"Wait, isn't that them over there?" inquired the girl.

Sure enough, the trio seemed to be searching for Jake. Of course, if he had learned anything about Pokemon trainers, it was that he could avoid a fight if he could avoid being spotted.

Jake's eyes widened in surprise. Apparently Sarah wasn't kidding when she said that she had encountered Team Rocket.

Currently, Sarah's Totodile was playing with a ball that he had discovered lying on the floor. It did seem peculiar that someone would leave it there.

Not only that, but it didn't deflate regardless of how much he nibbled on it. However, he found it to be a pleasant surprise.

His curiosity only increased when the ball suddenly began to move around on its own.

"Totodile?" inquired Sarah's Totodile. He was starting to wonder if this was something he should be playing with.

As it turned out, it was a wild Sandshrew the whole time. And he was a male Sandshrew as indicated by Sarah's Pokedex...so she wasn't paying attention to her Pokedex right now.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed Sarah's Sandshrew. Why did he feel like he had been slobbered?

At that very moment, the wild Sandshrew noticed the Totodile.

Immediately, he pulled out his claws.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile.

In retaliation, he started snapping his teeth.

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"Totodile, are you picking fights with wild Pokemon again?" asked Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. It was good exercise.

"Well, at least you're fighting an opponent that you have an advantage against...wait, why is this Sandshrew in a cave full of water?" asked Sarah.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the wild Sandshrew. He figured it was a better idea to face your fears instead of running away from them..like the Totodile he was facing that had rather strong jaws.

Speaking of those jaws...

Suddenly, the wild Sandshrew grabbed onto Totodile's jaws, preventing him from opening them. He was a very smart Sandshrew, apparently.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Totodile. It looked like he had discovered his weakness..just like Totodile knew his. Now he couldn't open his mouth and shoot water at the wild Pokemon.

"Do you need help?" asked Sarah.

Totodile nodded.

Sarah tossed a Pokeball at Sandshrew, thus releasing Totodile's jaws.

Shortly afterward, there was a ding. Apparently Sandshrew liked it inside the Pokeball.

Unfortunately, Team Rocket had heard the commotion.

"What's going on out there?" asked Meowth.

At that very moment, they spotted Jake.

"Oh it's you! Because of you our leader is stuck in a jail cell!" bellowed James.

"Team Rocket is ruined because of you! We want revenge!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Hand over your money or prepare to fight!" shouted Meowth.

"I guess we're going to have to fight..." noted Jake.

"Well, they do owe me new Slowpoketails...they cost one million dollars each..." remarked Sarah.

"One million dollars per tail?! Maybe we could start a new Team Rocket!" yelled out the cat Pokemon.

"Wait, did that Meowth just talk?" asked the girl. For some strange reason she hadn't noticed it earlier.

"He's not like most Pokemon..." noted Jake.

"Would you be interested in learning how to talk?" inquired Sarah.

"Totodile..." answered Sarah's Totodile. He thought that actions spoke a lot louder than words.

"Go, Arbok!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Go, Weezing!" bellowed James.

Immediately, they sent out Arbok and Weezing.

"Arbok!" shouted the snake Pokemon.

"Weezing!" exclaimed the gas Pokemon.

"Funny, I have a Pokemon that looks a bit like that..." questioned Sarah.

"Huh?" asked Jessie.

Immediately, she sent out her Ekans.

"Ekans!" exclaimed Ekans.

"Thst was what my Arbok looked like...before it evolved." answered Jessie.

"Oh...this makes so much sense now." nodded Sarah.

Unfortunately for Sarah, it seemed that Ekans was frightened of her evolution.

"Ekans! Ekans!" exclaimed Sarah's Ekans.

"Hmm. I think you're right. We should probably come up with a better matchup..." suggested Sarah.

Sarah withdrew her Ekans.

"Hmm, if Arbok is a poison type, then I might know what to do." remarked the girl.

She sent out her Sandshrew.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed Sandshrew. He had only been a trained Pokemon for a few minutes, and yet he was already being sent out for a Pokemon battle.

Well, he already knew how to defend himself.

Jake decided to send out his Wooper.

"Whoopee!" exclaimed Wooper.

"Did you just say Whoopee?" asked Jake.

"Whoopee!" shouted the water Pokemon.

"Any other human words you've picked up?" inquired the boy.

Wooper shook his head. Not yet.

"OK..." answered the boy.

Immediately, Arbok used Poison Sting to attack the duo.

However, Sandshrew rolled up into a ball and shielded himself. They bounced harmlessly off of his armored yellow hide.

In Wooper's case, since it essentially covered itself with poison whenever it stepped out of the water, this didn't hurt him at all.

Speaking of water, he would like to go for a swim in this cavern. It sounded like fun.

"Darn it! This isn't working!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Let me try! Weezing, use Smokescreen!" ordered James.

Weezing released smoke from his mouth, hoping that he would gain the advantage if Sandshrew and Wooper couldn't see.

"Sandshrew?" asked Sandshrew. Did someone light a fire and forget to put it out?

Fortunately, Wooper was willing to get rid of the smoke with his water gun.

"Hey, Lucy! Are you going to give us a hand?" asked Jake.

"I am...Clefairy's locked into a battle with Meowth..." answered Lucy.

"That's MY coin! Get your own, punk!" exclaimed Meowth.

"Clefairy!" shouted Lucy's Clefairy. Being the kleptomaniac she was, she was trying to take Meowth's coin because of how valuable it looked.

"Carry on then." said Jake.

Noticing that Weezing was shaped like a balloon, Sandshrew decided to try hitting Weezing with his claws.

This caused Weezing to self-destruct.

Fortunately for Sandshrew, he knew at some level what would happen and he rolled up into a ball to shield himself from the blast.

Weezing fainted.

"Oh no! Weezing! Time for me to send out my Victreebel!" exclaimed James.

"Victreebel!" shouted James's Victreebel as she materialized from her Pokeball.

Immediately, she started hugging James tightly.

"Aah! Let go of me!" bellowed James.

"That's one affectionate Victreebel." remarked Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. Of course, he was a rather affectionate Pokemon too. That's why he decided to partner up with Sarah since she was rather affectionate as well. Apparently, starter Pokemon reflected their trainers.

Immediately, Wooper began to feel rather scared.

"What's the matter?" asked Jake.

"Wooper..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"Oh, that's right. You're a water and a ground type...I think it would probably be best for you to stay off the field when there's a grass Pokemon around..." remarked the boy. Those would not a hard time fighting Wooper at all.

Jake recalled Wooper so that he could send out another Pokemon.

He thought that Cyndaquil would be just perfect.

"Go, Cyndaquil!" exclaimed Jake.

"Cyndaquil!" shouted Jake's Cyndaquil.

"Arbok, use Wrap!" ordered Jessie.

Arbok wrapped itself around Cyndaquil.

This was not a good idea at all.

Suddenly, Cyndaquil lit his back on fire.

"Arbok!" exclaimed Arbok.

Arbok suffered burns and fainted.

"What was I thinking?" asked Jessie.

"Apparently, you weren't thinking." remarked Jake.

Jessie withdrew her Arbok and sent out her Lickitung.

"Licky licky!" exclaimed Jessie's Lickitung.

Meanwhile, Sarah realized that she should send out a different Pokemon to combat Victreebel. Sandshrew wasn't looking forward to getting hit by those vines.

She recalled her Sandshrew and sent out her Ekans.

"Ekans?" asked Ekans. Was the Arbok gone?

"Yes, the Arbok is gone. You should be safe now." answered Sarah.

"Ekans!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon. She felt so much better now.

Immediately, she bit into Victreebel.

"Victreebel!" exclaimed the pitcher Pokemon. At least she wasn't being bitten by Totodile. Just look at all the teeth that he had.

Nearby, Lickitung attempted to lick Cyndaquil...but he only succeeded in burning his tongue.

"Lickitung!" exclaimed the long-tongued Pokemon.

This gave Cyndaquil the opportunity to hit Lickitung with Ember.

Lickitung fainted.

Cyndaquil then turned his attention to Victreebel, which he knew that he had a type advantage against.

He hit Victreebel with Ember as well.

Victreebel fainted too.

"Darn it! We lost!" exclaimed James.

"I guess our luck isn't getting any better..." remarked Jessie.

At that very moment, Meowth managed to break Clefairy's hold over his coin.

"Let's scram!" exclaimed Meowth.

Together, the trio retreated.

"It's a shame I didn't get my Slowpoke tails back..." remarked Sarah. That was what she was hoping for.

"Totodile..." murmured Sarah's Totodile. They weren't selling well anyway.

"Well, if you need me I'll be at Azalea Town!" exclaimed the girl.

Immediately, Sarah and Totodile left the Union Cave.

"I guess we better get going." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

Jake nodded. It was time to head out to Azalea Town.

 _Meanwhile..._

Sarah made it to Azalea Town, happy to make it to the Slowpoke Well.

However, she had yet to discover any Team Shadow Grunts.

Suddenly, she heard a cracking noise.

"Huh?" asked the girl.

She decided to check out the egg that she was holding.

"Totodile, did you damage the egg?" inquired Sarah.

"Totodile?" asked Totodile. He had not bitten into the egg at all.

More cracks rapidly began to appear on the egg.

"I think we might have company..." noted the girl.

At that very moment, a Pokemon hatched from the egg.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Togepi!" shouted the newborn Pokemon.

Sarah scanned the baby Pokemon with her Pokedex. She did not know that Pokemon hatched from eggs. Of course, she wouldn't be surprised if Totodile hatched from one. He was a reptile...though he didn't seem to mind cool environments.

"Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokemon. It is considered to be a good luck charm, as it is filled with happiness. Unlike other Pokemon, it does not discard its eggshell!" explained Sarah's Pokedex.

This Togepi was a girl.

Curious, Togepi picked up the Pokedex and began to examine it. She was curious why there was an image of herself on the screen.

"Aww! You're so adorable! Would you like to be my Pokemon?" asked Sarah. She did look like after her while she was in her egg.

"Togepi!" exclaimed Togepi. It looked like the answer was yes.

Sarah happily accepted her new Pokemon.

She probably wouldn't be able to use it for battle..but that would just be fine.

"I wonder if I'm going to catch more baby Pokemon like this..." thought Sarah.

 _It looks like Sarah has caught a baby Pokemon. Hooray. Also, Sarah and Lucy have caught a new Pokemon in Union Cave. No doubt that they will be useful for Pokemon battling._

 _In the next chapter, Team Shadow is going to be causing trouble...it's time for our protagonists to be heroes...except for maybe Sarah._


	13. Chapter 13: All's Well That Ends Well

_In this chapter, our protagonists are going to arrive in Azalea Town. However, before they battle the Gym Leader, there's a problem that they need to contend to. Fortunately, there's a man in Azalea Town whose willing to help them. His name is Kurt, of course, and he makes Pokeballs out of Apricorns. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea for our heroes to pick some off of trees so that they can give them to Kurt. On the other hand, it takes him a whole day to make him a single Pokeball even though you can get Pokeballs in bulk at the Poke Mart...why is Kurt so slow?_

 **Chapter 13: All's Well That Ends Well**

"So, let me get this straight...you're using a well that's full of Slowpoke for the purpose of collecting their tails?" questioned Sarah.

"Yes. Of course, some of my men have stolen some of the Slowpoke belonging to the residents there...I don't really see why they would do that considering that there are plenty of wild Slowpoke inside the well...I just hope that we don't attract unwanted attention..." answered Sarah's boss.

"OK. So what do you want me to do?" asked the girl.

"Go get some Slowpoke tails." answered her employer.

Sarah nodded and went to go get some Slowpoke tails.

Sure enough, there were several Team Shadow Grunts collecting Slowpoke tails.

"These are going to make us rich!" exclaimed the Grunts.

Supervising these grunts was a Team Shadow Executive...known as Larry. Larry had a green mohawk and was rather skinny. He was wearing the Team Shadow uniform. However, he was also carrying a badge bearing a S on it to indicate his high rank.

He was clearly enjoying giving orders to the various grunts. He also lost his temper whenever a Team Shadow Grunt did something he didn't like...and he took it out on them.

One of the Team Shadow Grunts dropped some Slowpoke tails on the floor.

"You idiot! Watch where you're going!" exclaimed Larry.

Sarah noted that she should watch her step so that she didn't disappoint Larry. She already knew how clumsy she was.

"Togepi..." murmured Sarah's Togepi. This man was frightening her. Why was Sarah working under him again?

"Um, are you the supervisor?" asked Sarah.

"Of course I am! Now hurry up and start selling some Slowpoke tails!" exclaimed Larry.

"You got it!" shouted the girl.

Immediately, she went looking for customers.

As she did so, she noticed that there was a Slowpoke right outside. According to the Pokedex, he was male.

Strangely, his tail had not been taken from him. Apparently, he had not been spotted by the Team Shadow Grunts yet.

Now that she thought of it, that Slowpoke looked rather cute. Perhaps she could keep it for herself instead of giving it to the Team Shadow Grunts. That way he wouldn't have to have his tail get cut off and sold for money. She had no luck selling those Slowpoke tails anyway, so she might as well try to capture one and use it as a Pokemon instead.

Having made her decision, she tossed a Pokeball at it.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed Sarah.

It hit the Slowpoke squarely on the head before opening. Since Slowpoke was a slacker, he did not put up much resistance. Some Pokemon were naturally easy to catch like that, unlike legendary Pokemon which could resist even the strongest of Pokeballs...except for the Master Ball. That was their weakness. Of course, Master Balls were extremely rare Pokeballs since people didn't want anyone to abuse their power, so...

"Well, that was easy...and he didn't even make a fuss...I guess that won't get any attention from my teammates. They'll probably be wondering why I'm keeping a Slowpoke for myself." thought Sarah.

"Team Shadow Grunt Sarah, where are you?! You're not slacking off, are you? I hate that from my grunts!" bellowed Larry.

"What, no? Of course not!" exclaimed Sarah.

For a moment Sarah considered going back to the well and giving Larry a status report...but she was worried that Larry would find out that she had taken a Slowpoke for herself instead of giving it to the Team Shadow Grunts so that they could start the nasty procedure of cutting off an innocent Slowpoke's tail.

There had to be something that she could do that would divert Larry's attention.

Fortunately, she had an idea.

"Maybe I should go to Azalea Town and advertise the Slowpoketails...that way I won't actually have to do that dirty job myself..." thought the girl.

That might work out for her.

"Are you coming or not? Just for the record, I hate deserters!" exclaimed Larry.

"Yikes, he's not really patient, is he?" questioned Sarah.

"Totodile!" shouted Sarah's Totodile. It would probably be best not to keep him waiting. He was not a nice man at all.

"I think maybe we should try advertising the Slowpoketails...we'll sell more of them that way." noted the girl.

"Why didn't I think of that? Go on ahead." questioned Larry.

Immediately, Sarah went to go tell people about the Slowpoketails and how valuable they were.

 _Near the town..._

"We made it to Azalea Town!" exclaimed Lucy.

"We sure did. But who are those guys hanging outside that well?" asked Jake.

For some strange reason, they were dressed like Sarah was. Just who were they?

Suddenly, one of these shady fellows noticed him.

They pushed Lucy onto the ground, forcing her to sit down. They clearly didn't want them anywhere near the well...lucky for them, Lucy and Jake wanted to face the Gym Leader instead of going down what appeared to be a rather gloomy well.

"Get lost, kids! We're busy here!" exclaimed a Team Shadow Grunt.

"Alright, sheesh!" shouted Lucy as she helped herself to her feet.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Why were they so rude? And why were they hanging out near the well, anyway? Did someone fall in there? If so, they could probably just get a flying Pokemon and have them lift the poor fellow out. That seemed like the best solution.

On the other hand, there seemed to be a ladder leading directly into the well. They probably wouldn't need a flying Pokemon for that. Perhaps the well was rather expansive.

 _Meanwhile..._

"Well, it didn't take us long to get through that cave." noted Chris.

"I know..." nodded Ned. There were a few Pokemon trainers here and there, but not much else.

Immediately, they went to Azalea Town.

"I can't wait to challenge the Gym Leader!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

"That's a problem." answered Ned.

"Huh?" asked Chris.

As it turned out, there were Sarah, who was standing right in front of the entrance.

How were they going to get inside now?

"Hello! We're selling Slowpoketails! If we make enough money, we'll be selling them throughout Johto!" exclaimed Sarah.

"I didn't come here to buy tails you got from a Pokemon!" bellowed Chris.

"You...might not want to make her mad." suggested Ned.

"You sure you don't want to buy just one?" asked the teenage girl.

"Get out of the way of the gym!" bellowed Chris.

"Don't you want to buy some Slowpoketails first?" inquired Sarah.

Chris grabbed Sarah by the shirt.

"Listen here, you obnoxious advertiser! I came here to battle the Gym Leader, not buy Slowpoketails! Now stand aside so that I can get my second Gym Badge!" exclaimed Chris.

As soon as Chris acted aggressively towards Sarah, her Togepi began to cry.

"Togepi!" cried out Togepi. As a baby Pokemon, she tended to get scared rather easily. Naturally, she didn't like it when someone threatened her trainer as well.

At this point, Chris realized what she had done.

She let out a sigh.

"Alright, fine. You can advertise Slowpoketails. But I'd really like to battle the Gym Leader sooner or later." compromised Chris.

"Togepi!" cheered Sarah's Togepi. It seems that she could cry to get whatever she wanted...though she wondered if people were going to compare her to a leaky faucet if she cried too much.

Since her trainer's starter Pokemon was a Totodile maybe he could teach her how to cry on demand whether that only crying when she was upset. That might be useful.

Chris and Ned decided to leave Sarah be. She was bound to stop standing right outside the gym sooner or later.

At that very moment, Lucy and Jake showed up.

"Hi, Chris!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Hi, Ned." said Jake.

"Hey, Lucy...don't get your hopes up. Sarah's standing right in front of the Pokemon gym and I don't think that she'll let us in anytime soon..." spoke Chris.

"I guess we'll just have to find something else to do then..." noted the girl. Perhaps there were somebody that could do something useful for them?

Curious, Jake noticed that there was a sign pointing directly to a man named Kurt's house. Apparently, he made Pokeballs using Apricorns, which were grown on trees.

"So that's where Pokeballs come from..." noted Jake. Up until now he hadn't really thought where they were coming from. Apparently, though most Pokeballs nowadays were made using a machine (since there were many who wished to be Pokemon trainers regardless of age), there was nothing stopping people from making it by hand. Perhaps he could get a job doing that.

They decided to pay Kurt a visit.

Lucy knocked on the door.

"Hello?" asked Lucy. She decided to knock on the door since for some strange reason there were Pokemon trainers that just barged in houses without knocking on the doors first. On the other hand, nobody seemed to mind that. It was weird.

Still, she figured that she would be polite so that people wouldn't mistake her for a burglar. When you were rich as she was, her parents had to take many precautions to ensure that nobody would break inside their mansion.

"You can come in..." said Kurt. He appeared to be depressed about something, judging from the tone of his voice.

Jake and Lucy stepped right in.

"You're probably wanting me to make Pokeballs, aren't you?" inquired the old man.

"We sure are!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What Pokeballs do you make?" asked Jake. Pokeballs came in many flavors.

"Well, I'm afraid that I won't be able to do that for you right now. As of late, we're facing a crisis..." informed Kurt sadly.

"A crisis? What's the matter?" inquired the girl.

"Team Shadow have invaded our town." explained the old man.

"Team Shadow?" questioned Lucy.

"Hmm, you're not from these parts, are you? Where are you from?" inquired Kurt.

"We're from Kanto." answered Jake.

"I see. Well then, you've probably heard of Team Rocket, have you not?" asked the old man.

Lucy nodded. In fact, they had fought against Team Rocket and they had won.

"Well, just as Team Rocket have been causing trouble throughout Kanto, up until their disbandment after their leader had been arrested, of course, Team Shadow has been wreaking havoc throughout Johto. Take a look at these newspapers for me, will you?" asked Kurt.

Lucy and Jake decided to read through the newspapers.

Apparently, Team Shadow had robbed a bank, had stolen several Pokemon during a Pokemon tournament, and they had also broken into a museum and stolen many relics dedicated to Pokemon history.

"That's horrible." noted Lucy.

"Wait, isn't Sarah working for them?" inquired Jake.

"If that's the case, I don't think that she has been listening to her mother." answered Kurt.

"Judging from what Sarah told me about her mother, I don't think she's been advising her against anything." stated the boy.

"Anyway, we assumed that they were interested in robbing cities instead of a small town like ours, so we thought hat we were safe. But unfortunately we were wrong. Team Shadow has been making money off of cutting Slowpoke tails and selling them to whoever is willing to buy them. Personally I consider it to be barbaric practice, but apparently they don't see it that way. They just see it as a way to make money." remarked Kurt.

"How cruel!" exclaimed Lucy. She would never do something so awful to those poor Pokemon.

"Clefairy!" shouted Lucy's Clefairy. She had stolen many things, but she would never steal tails from a Pokemon.

"Mm-hmm. Unfortunately, they found out about our fair town and the well where many Slowpoke are living. They came into our town one night and started abducting our innocent Slowpoke. They then went to the well and started capturing the wild Slowpoke living there as well. At this rate, they're going to be millionaires." remarked Kurt.

"Those poor Slowpokes...they'll never be able to use their tails as fishing rods again..." noted Lucy. How would they even evolve without their tails? Don't they need a Shellder to bite into their tail for that?

"Actually, a Slowpoke is capable of regenerating their tail over time. That way they'll always be able to evolve and they won't have to worry as much if they encounter an aggressive water Pokemon while fishing. Unfortunately, this also means that the Team Shadow Grunts aren't going to be interested in letting them go. "The more Slowpoketails, the merrier", they would say." said Kurt.

"We've got to do something about this!" exclaimed Lucy.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm. I was getting ready to do that myself. Just keep in mind that you're going to be dealing with the forces of evil...personally I would not recommend children to try being heroes since being a hero can be very dangerous...but I suppose it's your choice, not mine." answered the old man.

Immediately, he left his house in order to stop Team Shadow.

"You think we should help?" asked Jake.

"Absolutely! I can't just stand by and watch those poor Slowpoke get their tails cut off!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" shouted Lucy's Clefairy. She had enough of this Pokemon cruelty...especially since she in fact had experienced it first hand when Team Rocket tried to sell her to corrupt clients for money.

Immediately, Lucy and Jake scrambled out the door to stop Team Shadow as well.

 _A few minutes later..._

"Hahahahahaha!" laughed a Team Shadow Grunt outside the well. "I can't believe how easy this is! The shelves of the Pokemarts will be full of Slowpoketails in no time!"

At that very moment, another Team Shadow Grunt came in carrying a Slowpoke.

"Slowpoke!" exclaimed the wild Slowpoke. It was bad enough that his friends had fallen victim to these greedy maniacs, but now he was going to fall victim to them as well. At least his tail would grow back.

Immediately, the Team Shadow Grunt pulled out a meat cleaver.

"At least you'll live to tell the "tale"." remarked the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the Slowpoke. That was not a funny joke.

"Hold it right there!" exclaimed Kurt.

"Slowpoke?" asked the water Pokemon. Had someone come to save the day? That was certainly something that he and his friends had been daydreaming about...those they weren't quite sure whether it would become a reality.

"Oh great! Some old man thinks that he can stop us...you and what Pokemon?" asked the Team Shadow Grunt.

"This one!" shouted the old man.

Immediately, he threw a Pokeball, sending out an Electrode.

"Electrode!" exclaimed Kurt's Electrode.

"He's got an Electrode! Run for it!" shouted the Team Shadow Grunts.

Immediately, the Team Shadow Grunts ran away.

Kurt recalled his Electrode shortly afterward.

"Why did I know that they were cowards?" questioned Kurt. Still, there was likely a person in charge of this particular operation that was braver than these cowardly grunts. He would probably need to be careful.

But unfortunately, he was not.

"Let's see now...hey, there's a ladder that I can use to get to the b-"

Suddenly, he lost his footing and fell directly down the well.

"Ahhhhh!" screamed Kurt. He really needed to watch where he was going.

 _Back at Azalea Town..._

"Huh. All of a sudden I got a strange sense of deja vu..." noted Sarah.

"Totodiel!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. He wondered why that would be the case.

 _Back at the Slowpoke Well..._

"Ow...my back..." murmured Kurt.

He tried to get up, but he could not. It looked like the curse of his lumbago had struck again.

"Where's Nurse Joy when you need her?" asked the man. He could really use her help right about now.

Oh wait, that was right, she was mourning the loss of her Slowpoke, which had been stolen from her while she was healing some Pokemon like always. Ironically, they had ignored her Chanteys entirely.

Unfortunately, it looked like he wasn't going to be stopping Team Shadow anytime soon. And did anyone even know that he had fallen into the well? Looking back maybe he should have told somebody where he was going.

Hopefully things would be alright...

"How I wish I were young again..." remarked the man. At least his granddaughter Maizie was still young.

 _Well, it looks like our heroes are about to...well, do something heroic. Kurt managed to scare off the grunts in front of the well...but unfortunately, he can't face the forces of evil now. He didn't watch where he was going and now his back is probably broken. But at least our far younger heroes can still fight the Team Shadow Grunts, right?_

 _In the next chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to fight against Team Shadow. They've been very bad and they must be stopped! But since Sarah is a member of Team Shadow she'll stand in their way...and if they want to free the Slowpoke, they'll have to defeat Larry, the man whose in charge of this operation. Can they handle it?_


	14. Chapter 14: Meddling Kids

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to go after Team Shadow so that they can save the poor Slowpoke...and while they're at it they can hopefully put an end to Team Shadow's immoral business. Sarah's got a point. Slowpokes are rather cute, though admittedly they're also lazy. Maybe they should be more like Lucy's Clefairy..she's always building things that are rather impressive...on the other hand, she also steals. Meh._

 _Little do they know that this is all just a sign of what's to come._

 **Chapter 14: Meddling Kids**

Lucy and Jake raced to the Slowpoke Well. Fortunately, the grunts that were in front of the well earlier were gone.

"Did they flee once Kurt showed up?" asked Lucy.

"Apparently, I don't think things are that simple. I think there are still grunts inside the well..." answered Jake.

"What's going on? Why aren't you guarding the well? Do you want people to find out about this?!" exclaimed Larry.

"This old man came in and scared the heck out of us...we were forced to retreat..." explained a Team Shadow Grunt.

"An old man scared you down here? You have got to be kidding me..." remarked the man.

"I think we might have found who's behind this." stated Jake.

"Wait...do you think he's the one in charge of this team of criminals or do you think he's working for someone else?" asked Lucy.

"I don't know...but either way, I think that if we manage to take him down, the Slowpokes are going to get to go home..." noted Jake.

"That's good enough for me. Let's go stop this Pokemon cruelty and be heroes!" exclaimed the girl.

Jake nodded.

Together, the two of them climbed down the well.

"Let's go stop Team Shadow!" shouted Lucy.

However, as they went to stop Larry from cutting off more Slowpoke tails, they forgot about someone.

"Ugh...my back...someone help..." murmured Kurt.

 _Meanwhile..._

"I'm sick of waiting! When is Sarah going to stop advertising those stupid Slowpoke tails?" asked Chris.

"I don't know..." answered Ned.

Suddenly, they noticed a Farfetch'd flying away.

"Wait, was that a Farfetch'd?" questioned the girl.

"That's odd, I thought Farfetch'd were in danger of becoming extinct." remarked the boy.

Shortly afterwards, a rather young boy exited a building and chased after him. He was wearing a red T-shirt and had brown hair.

"Come back, Farfetch'd!" exclaimed the boy.

"Farfetch'd!" shouted the bird. Unfortunately, it appeared that the bird Pokemon had no interest in obeying him.

"What's going on?" asked Ned.

"Oh man! My dad isn't going to be happy with me..." noted the young man.

"Huh?" inquired Chris.

Curious, she noticed the building that the boy had run out of had a sign saying "Charcoal Maker's House."

"I guess you must be his apprentice..." noted the teenage girl.

"I need to get that Farfetch'd back! If only I had wings too..." said the apprentice. Of course, in order to have wings, he would have to be a Pokemon.

"I suppose we might as well help him...we don't really have anything better to do." remarked Chris.

"I agree with you, Chris..besides, you don't get to see a Farfetch'd every day..." answered Ned. That was why they called them Farfetch'd. Well, that and they could be used to fetch sticks on account of them always holding a leek and all.

"Yeah...why are people using them for food again?" asked the teenage girl. She would never eat a Pokemon...though apparently her Fearow would. Now she knew why his name began with "Fear".

Immediately, Ned and Chris ran into the forest so that they could chase after the Farfetch'd.

However, they weren't quite sure where the Fafetch'd was. He could be anywhere in the forest.

Suddenly, Ned spotted something interesting.

As it turned out, there was a pile of eggs lying in a nest.

"You don't think that the Farfetch'd laid eggs, did you?" asked Ned.

"If so, good. There needs to be more Farfetch'd in the world." remarked Chris.

Ned decided to examine one of the eggs.

"I always wondered what Farfetch'd eggs looked like..." noted Ned. It looked like he would finally get to find out...

"Exeggcute!" exclaimed the wild Pokemon.

...but as it turned out, they weren't actually eggs, more like plant seeds.

"Aah!" screamed Ned.

"Still screaming like a little girl, I see." teased Chris.

Unsurprisingly, Ned ended up dropping the Exeggcute. Fortunately, unlike the eggs that you would find in the market, this did not make a mess on the floor.

"Exeggcute?" questioned the egg Pokemon. Was it too much to ask to go back to the nest along with the other Exeggcute? Exeggcutes were supposed to be in groups of six. Its evolution strangely only came in threes...perhaps it was easier for them to stick together that way.

Ned decided to let the Exeggcute reunite with the group.

He then scanned Exeggcute with his Pokedex.

"Exeggcute, the Egg Pokemon. Psychically linked together in groups of six, their shells are rather durable and will not spill their contents." read Ned's Pokedex.

These Exeggcute were male. And yes, for some strange reason all six of them were male. Perhaps their psychic link only allowed Exeggcute of the same gender to stick together. Or maybe it was just a coincidence.

"That's rather convenient for you, wouldn't you say?" asked Ned. That explained why the Exeggcute he picked up didn't get hurt when he dropped him.

Exeggcute nodded. How would they fight in Pokemon battles otherwise? In fact, they had a rather high defense.

"We're looking for a Farfetch'd. Have you seen him?" asked Ned.

The six Exeggcute nodded once again. Having six pairs of eyes could be very useful.

Currently, the Farfetch'd was napping on a tree.

At that very moment, the charcoal maker's apprentice showed up.

"There you are! Get down here and get back to my dad's business!" exclaimed the apprentice.

Farfetch'd shook his head.

"Darn it! Why won't he come back?" asked the boy.

"Isn't it obvious? You're planning to have him for your dinner..." remarked Chris.

"Have him for dinner? What are you talking about? I need him to cut wood so that we can make charcoal..." answered the confused charcoal maker.

"So, this isn't what this is about?" asked Ned.

"No. We don't eat Farfetch'd in Johto...we use them to make charcoal so that we can warm up our houses at night...it's particular important for us Azalea Town residents since it tends to rain rather frequently around here..." noted the apprentice.

Speaking of which, it suddenly started to rain.

"Exeggcute." remarked the egg Pokemon. It looks like the apprentice jynxed it.

Ned then remembered the Exeggcute.

"Do you need shelter?" asked Ned.

Exeggcute nodded.

"Alright then..." said the boy.

Immediately, he threw a Pokeball at the Exeggcute.

Exeggcute was caught.

"Why don't you want to come back, Farfetch'd? Surely you want to be indoors during a rain storm..." asked the apprentice.

"Farfetch'd..." murmured Farfetch'd. Considering that Team Shadow was in Azalea Town and were making money off of Slowpoke that had been taken from their trainers, it seemed like only a matter of time before a Pokemon such as Farfetch'd was next. What if they tried selling their leeks?

"What's that? Team Shadow is kidnapping Pokemon? Knowing Lucy she's probably stopping them as we speak..." noted Ned.

"Farfetch'd?" asked the bird Pokemon. In that case...

Farfetch'd returned to the apprentice.

"Thanks for the help." remarked the Charcoal Maker's son.

Immediately, they returned back to the charcoal maker's shop.

"I guess we should head back to Azalea Town too..." noted Ned.

Chris nodded. It was nice that Ned had successfully managed to capture a new Pokemon, though she got the feeling that it would be a horrible choice against the Gym Leader.

Still, maybe it would come in handy.

 _Meanwhile..._

"What's this? Hmm...it looks like some of the kids of Azalea Town want their Slowpoke back...too bad! You can't have them!" exclaimed a Team Shadow Grunt.

"We're here to send the Slowpokes you stole back to Azalea Town, actually..." answered Jake.

"Your days of cutting off Slowpoke tails are over!" shouted Lucy.

"Oh yeah? You'll have to fight us first!" bellowed one of the Team Shadow Grunts.

"We'll send your Pokemon back to the Pokemon Center!" exclaimed another Team Shadow Grunt.

Immediately, one of the Team Shadow Grunts sent out a Zubat.

"Zubat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon.

Another Team Shadow Grunt sent out a Geodude.

Jake sent out his Sentret while Lucy sent out her Chikorita.

"Sentret!" exclaimed Sentret.

"Chikorita!" shouted Chikorita.

Immediately, Sentret rushed towards the Zubat while Chikorita attacked the Geodude.

"Geodude!" exclaimed Geodude. Immediately, he swung his fists back and forth. He'd make a good fighting type if the Pokemon developers allowed it. But maybe he could simply settle for being a rock and a ground type, even if grass and water Pokemon were a nightmare to him.

However, Chikorita grabbed Geodude's arms with her vines.

"Geodude!" shouted the rock Pokemon. Unfortunately, Chikorita knew how to restrain him effectively.

Chikorita then fired some leaves at Geodude.

"Geodude!" exclaimed the Geodude. Those really hurt.

Unfortunately, Geodude managed to free his arms.

He proceeded to toss rocks at Chikorita, who was forced to hide behind a boulder.

"Geodude?" asked the Team Shadow Grunt's Geodude. Where did she go?

Suddenly, Chikorita hit Geodude with Vine Whip.

Geodude fainted.

"Geodude..." murmured Geodude.

"Dang it!" exclaimed the frustrated Team Shadow Grunt.

Meanwhile, Sentret was fighting against Zubat.

Immediately, Zubat sank his teeth into Sentret.

"Sentret!" exclaimed Jake's Sentret.

"Yes! That's my boy!" shouted the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Hang in there, Sentret!" demanded Jake.

In retaliation, Sentret scratched Zubat in the face.

"Zubat!" bellowed the bat Pokemon. He let go of Sentret.

Sentret then grabbed Zubat by the legs, preventing him from flying away.

"Zubat!" shouted the poison and flying Pokemon. Sentret was too heavy.

Sentret then flew Zubat at a nearby boulder.

Zubat fainted.

"Zubat..." murmured the bat Pokemon.

"Awww..." said the unfortunate Team Shadow Grunt.

Immediately, the two retreated and told Larry the bad news.

"We're under attack! Two children are here to rescue the Slowpokes!" exclaimed the unfortunate Team Shadow Grunts.

"Two brats are after our Slowpoke? Well, judging from the panicked expressions from your faces, you lost to them, didn't you? Your incompetence baffles me." remarked Larry.

The two Shadow Grunts drooped their heads sadly.

"Well then, let's see if they can defeat every single grunt inside this well! I'll be making sure that none of the Slowpoke will be heading back to Azalea Town anytime soon..." said Larry.

Immediately, the Team Shadow Grunts took the Slowpoke and placed them inside some cages.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the depressed Slowpokes.

"They're not getting the Slowpoke without this key!" remarked Larry.

Quickly, he pulled out a key to demonstrate to the Team Shadow Grunts.

"So...if they want to rescue the Slowpoke, they'll have to defeat you?" asked one of the grunts.

"Exactly." answered Larry.

"Wait, wasn't there a girl who went to advertise the Slowpoke tails?" inquired another Grunt.

"I'll go call her..." answered the man.

Immediately, he gave Sarah a phone call.

 _Meanwhile..._

"So...how are you feeling?" asked Sarah.

"Togepi!" exclaimed Sarah's Togepi. She was feeling absolutely ecstatic.

Still, Azalea Town seemed to be vacant of a particular type of Pokemon...she wasn't quite sure which one.

Where exactly were they?

At that very moment, Sarah received a phone call from Larry.

"Hello?" asked Sarah.

"Where are you! We need you over at the Slowpoke Well, pronto! There are two kids who actually know how to be effective Pokemon trainers...unlike my grunts." answered Larry.

"So, you need reinforcements?" asked Sarah.

"I'm not ending this operation simply because two kids think it's wrong for me to harvest Slowpoketails!" exclaimed Larry.

"You got it!" shouted the girl. For some strange reason she got the feeling that she had met those two kids before...where exactly had she done that?

Immediately, she went to the Slowpoke Well so that she could assist the man in charge of harvesting Slowpoketails. Her employers would appreciate her help...even if she didn't approve of cutting off Slowpoke tails herself, especially now that she had a Slowpoke of her very own.

Carefully, she climbed down the ladder.

Surprisingly, she didn't end up falling down the well.

"Well, that's a relief. I was worried that I was going to take a tumble and hurt myself. I guess today's my lucky day." remarked Sarah.

"You can say that again." answered Kurt.

"Totodile?" asked the crocodile. Who said that.

"Huh?" inquired Sarah.

Curious, she noticed that there was an old man lying on his back nearby.

"Ugh...I'm too old to be going out on Pokemon adventures..." noted Kurt.

"What happened?" asked Sarah.

"I fell on my back and now I can't get up..." answered the old man.

"Reminds me of a Squirtle..." noted the Team Shadow Grunt.

"I bet if the Team Shadow Grunts saw me like this, they'd probably be laughing at me..." remarked Kurt.

"Funny you should mention that..." said Sarah.

"Wait, you're a Team Shadow Grunt, aren't you? Why aren't you cutting off Slowpoke tails?" asked the old man.

"I'm not really into that...' answered the girl. She wasn't willing to admit it to the other Team Shadow Grunts though. It made her feel left out.

"Togepi!" exclaimed Sarah's Togepi. She felt that she should give him a helping hand.

"Huh? You want me to help? Um, sure..." nodded Sarah.

Immediately, Togepi moved her hands back and forth. They began to glow.

"What are you doing?" asked the girl.

Shortly afterward, Kurt's back began to feel better.

Pretty soon, he was able to get back up again.

"Thanks. For a Team Shadow Grunt you're not so bad...do you know where the Slowpokes are being held?" asked Kurt.

"Somewhere deeper inside the well, I believe. Wait, what am I saying?" inquired Sarah.

"Thanks." answered Kurt as he went to rescue the Slowpoke.

"We...might not have thought things through." stated Sarah.

"Togepi?" asked Sarah's Togepi. She figured that the citizens of Azalea Town would be grateful to have their Slowpoke back.

 _Meanwhile..._

Two more Shadow Grunts attempted to block Lucy and Jake's path. These ones were female.

"Not so fast, twerps!" exclaimed one of the female Team Shadow Grunts.

"You're not getting past us!" answered another one of the grunts.

One of the Team Shadow Grunts sent out an Ekans while another sent out a Oddish.

"Ekans!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon.

"Oddish!" shouted the odd Pokemon.

"This looks like a job for Cyndaquil." noted Jake.

"I think I'll use Mareep." answered Lucy. She had a feeling that this would be a good Pokemon to use.

"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed the quill Pokemon.

"Mareep!" shouted the sheep Pokemon.

Immediately, Ekans attempted to wrap herself around Mareep.

This backfired spectacularly.

"Ekans!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon.

"I figured that wool of yours would come in handy..." noted Lucy.

"Mareep!" shouted the electric Pokemon.

This left Ekans paralyzed.

"Mareep, Thundershock!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Mareep!" shouted the sheep Pokemon.

Immediately, Ekans ended up being zapped.

"Ekans!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon.

Ekans fainted. Her scales were not a good insulator for electricity, unfortunately.

Likewise, Oddish went up against Cyndaquil.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the odd Pokemon.

Unfortunately, she had a type advantage. This was a grass Pokemon going up against a fire Pokemon. Apparently the trainer did not think things through.

Immediately, she used Absorb on Cyndaquil, draining him of energy.

However, this was not very harmful.

"Cyndaquil?" asked the fire Pokemon. He hardly felt that.

In retaliation, he used Ember on Oddish.

Oddish fainted.

"Anyone else want to join the fray?" asked Larry.

Two Team Shadow Grunts volunteered.

"Let's get 'em!" exclaimed one of the grunts.

"Yeah! We'll use the Pokemon that we got from that salesman!" shouted the other Team Shadow Grunts.

Immediately, they sent out their Magikarp.

"Magikarp!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon.

"Um, how are they supposed to fight?" asked Lucy.

The Magikarps splashed about.

"Oh well. Mareep, use Thundershock again!" exclaimed the girl.

Mareep used Thundershock, and both of the Magikarp went down.

"Magikarp..." murmured the water Pokemon. Why did the Magikarp Salesman keep selling them to Pokemon trainers when they weren't useful for combat? If only they could evolve into Gyarados someday.

"I think we got scammed..." remarked one of the unfortunate Grunts.

"You fools! Now I'm going to have to deal with these kids myself!" yelled Larry. He was rather angry at his grunt's incompetence.

At that very moment, Sarah showed up.

"Or not. How convenient for me. You there! Take care of the boy! I'll take on the girl..." stated Larry.

"You got it!" exclaimed Sarah.

Immediately, she sent out her Sandshrew.

"Sandshrew, go!" shouted the girl.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the sandy Pokemon.

"I already managed to take out the other grunts..." pointed out Jake.

"Sandshrew?" questioned the shrew Pokemon. If that was the case, he wasn't liking his odds.

"Go, Sentret!" exclaimed Jake.

"Sentret!" shouted the sentry Pokemon.

Immediately, he lunged towards Sandshrew with his claws.

However, Sandshrew was able to roll up into a ball to defend himself.

He then began using Rollout on Sentret.

"Sentret!" exclaimed the normal Pokemon as he fell over.

"Now that's more like it!" exclaimed Larry. Why couldn't his grunts be as competent as Sarah was?

Since Sentret had fallen over, Sandshrew seized his opportunity by using Fury Swipes.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the shrew Pokemon.

"Come on, you can do it!" shouted Sarah.

Sandshrew nodded, and used his Fury Swipes to make Sentret faint.

"Sentret..." murmured Jake's unfortunate Pokemon.

"Hahaha! It looks like we finally have the upper hand! Makes me wish I could enter the fray myself..." remarked Larry.

"Well then..." answered Lucy as she pulled out a Pokeball.

"A little girl wants to take me on? This will be a cakewalk!" taunted the executive.

"We'll just see about that..." remarked the girl.

"Zubat, take care of these brats!" exclaimed Larry. If he was lucky he would be able to send the little girl back home to her mother.

"Zubat!" shouted the bat Pokemon.

"Mareep, I choose you!" spoke Lucy.

"Mareep!" shouted Mareep as she was sent out from her Pokeball.

"Zubat..." murmured the flying Pokemon. He got matched up with an electric type...

"You may have a type advantage...but I'll beat you!" exclaimed Larry.

"Mareep?" questioned the sheep Pokemon. Was Larry going to win?

"Zubat, use Bite!" ordered Larry.

Zubat nodded and went flying straight towards Mareep.

However, this backfired on Zubat.

"You went for the wool, didn't you?" questioned Larry.

"Zubat..." murmured the bat Pokemon. Maybe he should have gone for the face.

Mareep then proceeded to attack Zubat with lightning, which he just barely managed to avoid.

"Zubat!" exclaimed the cavern-dwelling Pokemon. He was dealing with some heavy firepower...or electric power in this case.

"I'll teach you a lesson about meddling in our business!" bellowed Larry.

 _In the next chapter, we're going to see how these battles turns out. Of course, considering that our heroes are going to be trying to get their second Johto badge in the next chapter, you can take a good guess._

 _Still, this is only a sign of things to come. Team Shadow will be showing up again._


	15. Chapter 15: Only The Beginning

_In this chapter, our protagonists are going to drive Team Shadow out of the Slowpoke Well. However, as Larry explains, they have bigger plans than the Slowpoke Well. They haven't seen the last of them._

 _Afterwards, they're going to get to face Bugsy._

 **Chapter 15: Only The Beginning**

Since Sentret was clearly out of the picture, Jake realized that he was going to have to use a different Pokemon to beat Sandshrew.

But what Pokemon should he use? It wouldn't help him if he made bad decisions when fighting a Pokemon trainer.

Perhaps there was a Pokemon that he could use that would be a good match for Sandshrew.

Suddenly, he remembered something that was important.

Didn't he have a Wooper?

"Why didn't I think of this before?" inquired Jake. That would have been a good choice to take on Sandshrew...Sentret didn't seem to have what it took to get past his defenses.

Jake sent out Wooper.

"Wooper!" exclaimed Wooper.

"A Wooper?" questioned Sarah.

Hmm, it looked like Sandshrew had a type disadvantage now. And physical defense wasn't the same as special defense, so his hard shell wouldn't protect him from water attacks either.

Well, he already beat one of Jake's Pokemon, so perhaps he could beat another one.

"Sandshrew, use Scratch!" ordered Sarah.

Sandshrew nodded and proceeded to do just that to Wooper.

Wooper ended up being scratched on the face.

However, Wooper was about to do something that Sandshrew would not like.

"Wooper, use Water Gun!" ordered Jake.

Wooper nodded and hit Sandshrew in the face with Water Gun.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the shrew Pokemon. That water was cold. It made him shiver.

Adding to that, he was soaked.

"Now use Mud Shot!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Wooper nodded and shot mud at Sandshrew.

Sandshrew tipped over. He had lost his balance.

"Oh no! Sandshrew!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Try using Water Gun again!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Wooper nodded again. As soon as he hit Sandshrew once more with Water Gun, Sandshrew fainted.

Sarah sighed. It looked like Jake won this round.

It was time to send out another Pokemon...one that would do better against Wooper.

"Go, Ekans!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Ekans!" shouted Ekans.

Ekans sank his teeth into Wooper.

"Wooper!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. He was lucky that this Ekans was rather young.

Even so, being bitten by the snake Pokemon made him feel rather woozy.

Meanwhile, Lucy was facing off against Larry.

"You think a young girl can defeat me? You're surely mistaken..." remarked Larry.

"I'm more than just a young girl!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" agreed Lucy's Clefairy.

"Zubat, use Supersonic!" ordered Larry.

Zubat immediately used Supersonic, screeching very loudly.

It was a good thing there wasn't a Hypersonic move...right?

However, it appeared that Mareep had wool in her ears. She didn't hear the Supersonic attack.

She shook her head and the wool came out.

"How did that get in there?" questioned Lucy.

Mareep wasn't sure.

"Dang it!" exclaimed the Team Shadow admin.

Mareep then hit Zubat with another Thundershock.

"Zubat!" exclaimed the flying Pokemon.

He fell on the floor, and it was pretty clear that he had fainted.

"What? You defeated my Zubat? You've got to be kidding me...but my Koffing will still beat you!" shouted Larry.

Larry recalled his Zubat and sent out his Koffing.

"Koffing!" shouted Koffing.

"That's a lot of smoke coming out..." noted Lucy. Perhaps it would be best not to inhale it.

Mareep attempted to zap Koffing with lightning.

However, Koffing moved out of the way.

He then released some smog from his body.

Mareep was poisoned.

"Mareep..." murmured the sheep Pokemon.

"That's better!" exclaimed Larry. He was surprised that a little girl could defeat his Zubat, but now it appeared that he was gaining the upper hand.

"That's not good..." noted Lucy. Would Mareep still be able to fight?

"Use Thundershock!"

Mareep nodded and zapped Koffing with lightning.

"Koffing!" exclaimed the smoky Pokemon. That Thundershock really hurt.

However, Koffing followed with a Tackle.

Mareep fainted.

"Oh no! Mareep!" shouted Lucy.

"I guess you should have kept your Mareep at the farmhouse..." noted Larry.

"I don't live at a farmhouse, actually." answered Lucy.

Lucy decided to send out her Clefairy.

"Clefairy!" shouted Lucy's Clefairy.

"Sending out your starter Pokemon, eh? I'll have you know that this Koffing was my starter Pokemon...and I'm pretty sure it's going to beat yours!" exclaimed the Team Shadow executive.

"He is so arrogant..." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded. Perhaps that would lead to his undoing.

"Use Smokescreen!" ordered Larry.

Koffing nodded, and used smoke to obscure Clefairy's vision.

However, Lucy had an answer for that.

"Clefairy, use Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Clefairy nodded and used Wing Attack to blow away the smoke. And yes, she used the wings on her back.

"What?!" shouted Larry.

Lucy sighed in relief. It seemed that Clefairy could prevent Koffing from filling up the arena with smoke and putting her at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile, Jake was still fighting against Sarah.

"Ekans, use Wrap!" ordered Sarah.

Ekans nodded, and wrapped the oxygen out of Wooper.

Wooper fainted.

"I guess my Wooper did his best..." noted Jake.

Jake returned his Wooper to his Pokeball.

He then sent out Grimer.

Ekans tried to wrap around Grimer, but he was too slippery.

"Uh-oh..." said Sarah.

Grimer then tossed a Mud Bomb at Ekans.

Ekans fainted.

"I guess I'll have to send out Totodile now..." noted Sarah. Would he be able to do the job?

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile.

Jake noted that Lucy's Clefairy wasn't the only Pokemon that preferred not to be in a Pokeball.

Sarah's Totodile used Water Gun on Grimer, making him soaking wet.

However, he retaliated by tossing sludge at Totodile.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile.

Now he was covered with gunk.

Totodile attempted to bite Grimer, but he then stopped when he realized what a nasty flavor Grimer would have.

Grimer hit Totodile with a Mud Bomb, and Totodile fainted.

"Darn it! I let my superior down!" shouted Sarah. She sure hoped that she didn't get fired for this.

Meanwhile, Larry was still facing off against Clefairy.

Unfortunately for him, Lucy was about to end the fight right then and there.

"Clefairy, use Pound!" ordered Lucy.

Clefairy nodded and used Pound to strike down Koffing.

Koffing fainted.

Larry stamped his foot on the ground in frustration. He could not believe what just happened.

However, he ultimately decided to admit defeat. He may have lost to a little girl...but at least she was a strong Pokemon Trainer, though he wouldn't openly admit it.

"Fine, you win...but keep in mind that Team Shadow has much bigger plans that this well! Now if you excuse me we're going to be returning to our hideout..." stated Larry.

"Hey everyone! It's time for us to bail! Take all the Slowpoketails you can and go!" shouted the Team Shadow executive.

The Team Shadow Grunts nodded and proceeded to evacuate the well.

Sarah followed as well, though in the process she tripped and fell.

"Did we win?" asked Lucy.

"I guess so...still, I don't think that we've seen the last of them...didn't they mention something about their hideout?" inquired Jake.

"Yeah...I wonder where it could be..." answered the girl.

"I don't know but we should probably keep an eye out...I remember Team Rocket's Hideout being hidden in Celadon City...but it might not be in a city..." noted the boy.

"That place gave me the creeps..." remarked Lucy.

"Yeah...it's certainly not a place for innocent Pokemon trainers..." said Jake. Fortunately, from what he had heard, the Celadon Game Corner was no longer run by Team Rocket. Now its funds were going straight towards the Pokemon League.

At that very moment, Kurt showed up.

"Hey, Kurt, is your back feeling better?" inquired the girl.

Kurt nodded.

"You can think a kind young girl for that..." answered Kurt.

"I wonder who that girl was..." questioned the boy.

"She had pink hair..." stated the man.

"Huh?" asked Lucy. That sounded like Sarah...but why would she help him out?

"Let's get back to my house, shall we?" inquired Kurt.

 _A few minutes later..._

Inside Kurt's house, Maizie was delighted to have her Slowpoke back. She was running all over the house.

Now that Team Shadow was gone, Kurt could continue making Pokeballs. They came in a variety of flavors for people that wished to catch specific ones. Heavy Balls worked wonders against Snorlax.

Slowpoke simply yawned. However, she was also glad to be back home. Team Shadow scared her. And who would want that many Slowpoke tails anyway? Were they really that valuable?

Her tail had been cut off...but that was only a setback. Slowpokes could grow back their tails surprisingly quickly.

"Have all the Slowpoke been accounted for?" asked Kurt.

"All of them have...except for one." answered Maizie.

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Did the Slowpoke belong to anyone?" inquired the man. If so, they should try searching Azalea Town for him.

"Nope, he was just a wild Slowpoke that liked to hang outside the well..." stated the girl.

"I see...still, I wondered what happened to him." answered the man. He sure hoped that he was alright.

"Beats me." stated Lucy.

Jake shrugged.

"Do you have any Apricorns for me?" asked Kurt.

"My parents have stocks in the Pokeball market, so yes!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy gave Kurt some Pink Apricorns.

Kurt went to his workshop to make some Pokeballs.

A few minutes later, he returned with some Love Balls.

"Typical for you to have Pokeballs like that..." noted Jake. Her heart was full of love.

"I know, right?" answered Lucy.

"Here are your Love Balls..." stated Kurt. Normally it took him a day to make Pokeballs...yet he was feeling pretty motivated after saving all those Slowpoke from Team Shadow.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the girl.

 _Meanwhile in the Ilex Forest..._

After healing her Pokemon at the Pokemon Center, Sarah decided to send out her new Pokemon.

She was curious as to its fighting potential. Since it was a Pokemon it would be a good fighter...right?

Now that she thought of it, this Pokemon seemed to be rather lazy.

"Slow...poke." answered Slowpoke.

On the other hand, it seemed happy that Team Shadow had stopped cutting off Slowpoke tails and selling them for money. That was rather cruel.

Togepi seemed rather happy as well. Apparently, now that the citizens of Azalea Town were happy to have their Slowpoke back, it was happy too.

"You sure seem excited..." noted Sarah.

Togepi nodded. Of course, as long as she was with her Pokemon trainer, she always felt cheerful. She had looked after her while she was just an egg, so she knew that she was in good hands.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"He sure doesn't seem energetic, does he?" noted the girl.

Totodile shook his head. Personally he wished that Slowpoke would be more energetic, just as he was.

Suddenly, Togepi began to shiver.

"What's the matter?" asked Sarah.

"Hey, Sarah! Remember me?" inquired Jerry.

Sarah looked around, and discovered her rival.

"You again?" asked Sarah.

"Yes, it is I! I want payback for you costing me those valuable baseball cards!" exclaimed the youngster.

"But they didn't belong to you..." answered the girl.

"My new Pokemon and I are going to wipe the floor with you!" shouted Jerry.

Jerry pulled out a Pokeball.

Sarah wondered what new Pokemon Jerry had.

"Go, Heracross!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Heracross!" shouted Heracross.

Personally Sarah felt sorry for the Pokemon that were under Jerry's care. She heard rumors that Jerry didn't treat them well.

"Er, do you want to fight this Pokemon, Slowpoke?" inquired the girl.

Slowpoke nodded. This youngster was disturbing him while he was trying to rest.

"Your lazy Pokemon can't beat me! Let's get 'em!" shouted Jerry.

"Heracross..." murmured Heracross. Why did he end up stuck with this Pokemon Trainer again?

He could disobey him...but Jerry threw a temper tantrum whenever he refused to do so.

Perhaps it would be best to keep him satisfied for now.

 _Back at Azalea Town..._

Chris and Ned returned from their trip from Ilex Forest. However, they quickly noticed that something had changed.

"What's with all the Slowpoke?" inquired Ned.

"I'm not sure..." answered Chris. They weren't there the last time they were there.

"Slowpoke..." said the Slowpoke.

Curiously, it seemed that someone had cut off his tail...however, it seemed to be growing back.

"What happened here?" asked the boy.

"Hey, Chris! We drove off Team Shadow!" exclaimed Lucy.

"You did? Wasn't Sarah a member of Team Shadow?" asked Chris.

That would explain why she was selling Slowpoke tails...right in front of the Azalea Town Gym.

"Yes...she left along with the rest of the Team Shadow Grunts...I'm not sure where they're headed now...but their leader mentioned something about heading back to their hideout..." answered Jake.

Curious, Chris noticed that there was nobody standing in front of the entrance anymore.

"Yes!" cheered Chris.

Immediately, Chris opened the door to the gym and stepped inside.

She was looking forward to battling the Gym Leader.

"I got an Exeggcute..." noted Ned.

However, he got the feeling that he shouldn't use it against the gym leader...he was a bug type specialist and Exeggcute was both a grass AND a psychic type.

On the other hand, a flying or a fire Pokemon would work rather well.

Perhaps he should check his PC to see what Pokemon would work best. He had a lot of Pokemon that he could use.

"Let's see now..." said Ned.

Suddenly, he remembered something...didn't he have a Hoothoot?

Hoothoot would be a good choice against the Gym Leader, though she had yet to evolve.

"This should help..." noted Ned.

Immediately, he followed Chris into the gym.

Lucy and Jake decided to enter the gym as well.

 _Now that Team Shadow is out of the picture, it seems that they can challenge the Gym Leader. Three of them will win, but one of them will lose. I'm not saying which one..._


	16. Chapter 16: Float Like A Butterfree

_In this chapter, our protagonists are going to face Bugsy...he knows everything there is about bug Pokemon...hence the reason why he's a Gym Leader. And yes, for some strange reason, most of the Gym Leaders in Johto have their Pokemon type be weak against the Pokemon type of the Gym Leader preceding them. It's ironic._

 **Chapter 16: Float Like A Butterfree**

"So, I heard that you got rid of Team Shadow...I appreciate it. For some strange reason one of them was blocking the entrance to my gym..." stated Bugsy.

"Could you get out?" asked Lucy.

"I was doing my research...so I wasn't aware that there was someone blocking the entrance..." explained the Gym Leader.

"What research is that?" inquired Jake.

"Bug types...I do research on bug Pokemon." stated Bugsy.

"I see..." nodded the boy.

"So...who wants to go first? I haven't had a trainer come up for a while so I'm willing for a Pokemon battle..." noted the bug Trainer.

Lucy volunteered. She was the one who had defeated the Team Shadow Executive so it made sense that she would get to go first.

"Alright then...go, Kakuna!" exclaimed Bugsy.

"Strange, I was expecting a bug Pokemon that was fully evolved..." answered Lucy.

"None of my Pokemon are fully evolved actually...I think that will change soon though." explained Bugsy.

Lucy nodded.

Fortunately, she had brought her Ponyta for the fight.

"Go, Ponyta!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Ponyta!" shouted the horse Pokemon.

"A fire Pokemon? That's not a bad choice." answered Bugsy.

To make matters worse for Bugsy, cocoon Pokemon were slow...and Ponyta was anything but.

"Ponyta, use Ember!" ordered Lucy.

Ponyta burnt Kakuna.

"Kakuna!" exclaimed Kakuna. Not even her hard shell was going to protect her from fire.

"Now use Stomp!" instructed Lucy.

Lucy's Ponyta nodded, and stepped on Kakuna.

Kakuna fainted. So much for her defenses.

Bugsy withdrew his Kakuna, and sent out Metapod.

"Metapod!" exclaimed Metapod.

However, he got the feeling that Metapod wasn't going to fare any better.

He was right on his Pokedollars.

Ponyta hit Metapod with an Ember, and this time it was a critical hit.

Metapod fainted.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

Now that two of his three Pokemon had fainted, it was time for Bugsy to send out his last Pokemon.

That last Pokemon happened to be Scyther.

"Scyther!" exclaimed the mantis Pokemon.

"This one's a lot different from the last two Pokemon I faced..." noted Lucy.

Bugsy nodded. This Pokemon just so happened to be his strongest.

Those blades sure looked sharp..Lucy noted had better approach Scyther with caution.

Or better yet, fight from a distance.

Lucy's Ponyta attacked Scyther with Ember.

He was burned...but that wouldn't be enough to take him down. He was one tough bug.

In retaliation, he slashed Ponyta with his blades. Ponyta was fast, but Scyther was fast too.

Ponyta stomped Scyther on the face.

This angered Scyther, and he attacked Ponyta with a buffet from his wings.

"Ponyta..." murmured the fire Pokemon. She was feeling exhausted.

"Fire Spin!" ordered Lucy.

Ponyta nodded, and surrounded Scyther with fire.

Unfortunately, he flew right over it and hit Ponyta with his blades once again.

Ponyta fainted.

"Ponyta..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

"That didn't go too well..." noted Lucy. At least Scyther seemed to be worn down.

She then remembered something.

Didn't she still have her Mareep?

She would come in handy during this fight.

"I choose you, Mareep!" shouted Lucy.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the sheep Pokemon.

"An electric type? Well, my Scyther is a flying type..." noted Bugsy. In fact, Metapod would be as well once he evolved into a Butterfree.

"Thundershock!" instructed Lucy.

Lucy's Mareep nodded, and zapped Scyther with electricity.

"Scyther!" exclaimed the mantis Pokemon.

Scyther tried slashing Mareep with her blades...but she found out that touching Mareep resulted in being zapped.

"Scyther!" shouted the bug Pokemon.

"That's one good defense..." noted Lucy.

Mareep nodded. Too bad it didn't protect her from ground Pokemon...but she couldn't have everything, now could she?

Scyther tried hitting Mareep with her wings...but flying attacks didn't harm electric Pokemon much, now did they?

"Mareep, use Thundershock!" ordered the girl.

Mareep nodded, and Scyther fainted.

"Scyther..." murmured the mantis Pokemon.

"Nice! I may know so much about bug Pokemon but you seem to know much about all sorts of Pokemon...maybe I should try learning about different Pokemon myself...perhaps if I learned about flying Pokemon I would know how to counteract them..." remarked Bugsy.

Lucy nodded.

"Here is your Hive Badge. Try not to get lost in the Ilex Forest..." explained the bug Pokemon trainer.

"I heard that Ilex Forest is straightforward..." noted Lucy.

"Maybe, but you should still pay attention to your surroundings..." said Bugsy.

Lucy nodded.

The two of them went to heal their Pokemon.

Bugsy came back a short while later.

"So, you wish to face me next? You already know what Pokemon I'm going to use but I hope you enjoy this Gym Battle regardless. I feel like battling bug Pokemon is a good way to research them..." noted Bugsy.

Jake nodded.

"You know, if I weren't a bug type specialist, people would probably mistake me for a girl..." remarked the bug catcher.

"My teammate's a girl and she actually likes bug Pokemon..." explained Jake.

"That's ironic, isn't it?" noted Bugsy.

Jake agreed.

Speaking of girls, he wondered where Sarah was headed.

 _Meanwhile in the Ilex Forest..._

Sarah scanned Heracross with her Pokedex.

"Heracross, the Single Horn Pokemon. Heracross is a docile Pokemon, and it loves tree sap! Despite its peaceful nature, Heracross packs a large amount of power!" exclaimed Sarah's Pokedex.

Sarah noted that Heracross was a strong Pokemon. Naturally, Jerry would want his hands on it.

"Slowpoke..." said Slowpoke.

"I used to have a Slowpoke until he became a Slowbro...he's a million times better than yours!" exclaimed Jerry.

"My Slowpoke hasn't evolved yet, so I suppose that's true...I only caught my Slowpoke recently though so cut him some slack." answered Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. Jerry had no respect for his opponent.

Heracross got to attack first, since Slowpoke was so slow.

"Ha! Your Slowpoke would rather snooze than fight on the battlefield! Horn Attack!" ordered Jerry.

Her across nodded and hit Slowpoke with his horn. Apparently, that was where a lot of his strength came from.

However, Slowpoke didn't seem hurt too much.

"Hmm, what should I do?" asked Sarah.

"Slowpoke?" inquired Sarah's Slowpoke. A psychic type would come in handy for the situation.

"Use...Confusion?" inquired the girl.

Slowpoke nodded, and used Confusion to make Heracross confused.

"What?!" shouted Jerry. Slowpoke didn't seem to be fighting at all until a moment ago.

"Heracross?" questioned Heracross. He couldn't seem to remember what he was doing.

Perhaps he was drinking tree sap?

Now that he thought of it, he simply loved tree sap.

That sounded quite delicious.

He went over to a nearby tree and began to guzzle the tree sap.

"Heracross..." murmured the beetle Pokemon. He was so glad that he was in a forest. Then again, this forest was his home.

Jerry groaned. Why did his Pokemon have to be incompetent? People said that he was the incompetent one, but he thought that they were stupid.

Since Heracross was distracted by the tree sap, Sarah decided she should have Slowpoke attack again.

"You're a water type, right? Do you have any water attacks?" asked Sarah.

Slowpoke nodded.

He splashed Heracross with Water Gun.

"Heracross!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Slowpoke had washed away all the tree sap from the tree.

Heracross started to cry.

Jerry groaned.

"Don't be such a baby Pokemon!"

"I feel sorry for Heracross..." noted Sarah.

Slowpoke nodded.

Jerry groaned. It seemed that Heracross wasn't able to battle anymore.

He withdrew Heracross and decided to send out another Pokemon...one that wasn't such a crybaby.

Ironically, Jerry happened to be a crybaby himself. It seemed that a trainer's Pokemon reflected their personality in some way. Sarah's Totodile in particular fitted her perfectly.

"Go, Dunsparce!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Dunsparce!" shouted Dunsparce.

Sarah noted that Dunsparce and Diglett were very similar Pokemon. Dunsparce wasn't a ground type Pokemon though, was it?

If so, she didn't have a type advantage.

In fact, it seemed that Dunsparce was a normal type Pokemon.

Dunsparce used Glare on Slowpoke.

However, Slowpoke didn't seem too phased.

"Come on!" shouted Jerry.

Slowpoke splashed Dunsparce with Water Gun.

"Dunsparce!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon.

He burrowed underground, hoping to get the jump on Slowpoke.

He resurfaced shortly afterwards and hit Slowpoke with his drill.

"Slowpoke!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. That surprised him.

However, he hit Dunsparce with Confusion.

"Dunsparce!" exclaimed the land snake Pokemon.

He hit Slowpoke with Rollout, and Slowpoke fainted.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the fainted Pokemon.

"Finally...that Slowpoke was such a pain..." noted Jerry.

"I guess I should try beating Jerry at his own game..." remarked Sarah.

Sarah sent out her Ekans.

"Ekans!" exclaimed Ekans.

"My snake Pokemon is better than yours!" bellowed Jerry.

Ekans bit Dunsparce on the head, and he fainted.

"I don't know..." answered Sarah.

Jerry sighed, and sent out his Totodile.

"Finish the job!" ordered Jerry.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's aggressive Totodile.

Totodile sank his teeth into Ekans, causing her to screech.

"Ekans!" shouted the snake Pokemon.

"Not again..." noted Sarah.

Totodile used Water Gun, and Ekans fainted.

"You want to face Totodile?" asked Sarah.

Totodile nodded.

"This time, I'll win!" exclaimed Jerry.

Jerry's Totodile used Scary Face.

Sarah's Totodile leapt a few feet, but he calmed himself down.

He scratched Jerry's Totodile on the face.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

This made him mad, and he used Rage.

"I don't think we'll like him when he's angry..." answered Sarah.

"Totodile..." murmured Sarah's Totodile. He didn't like Jerry's Totodile when he wasn't angry.

Sarah's Totodile bit Jerry's Totodile once again.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

In retaliation, he splashed Sarah's Totodile with Water Gun.

Totodile wiped himself off, and scratched Jerry's Totodile once again.

He got a critical hit, and Jerry's Totodile fainted.

"Darn it! I lost again!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

"Yep..." nodded Sarah.

"I can't stand losing to you! Just wait until my Totodile evolves into a Croconaw!" shouted Jerry.

Jerry left the forest.

"Er, how do I get out of this forest?" questioned the girl.

"Totodile?" asked Sarah's Totodile. Who could they ask for directions?

At that very moment, a wild Oddish appeared.

"Togepi!" exclaimed Sarah's Togepi.

"What is it, Togepi?" asked Sarah.

Togepi pointed to the wild Oddish. The plant Pokemon seemed like a friendly one.

"Er, can you help?" asked Sarah.

According to the Pokedex, this Oddish was female.

The wild Oddish nodded. Personally she liked visiting the shrine dedicated to its guardian, Celebi. Rumor has it that Celebi could travel through time. Had she ever caused time paradoxes?

The Oddish showed Sarah the way out of the forest.

"Thanks...how can I repay you?" asked Sarah.

"Oddish..." said Sarah's Oddish. To be honest, she was somewhat of the adventurous type. Sure, Ilex Forest was nice, but what was the rest of the world like?

That was something that she would like to know.

"You want to explore the world?" asked Sarah.

"Oddish." said Sarah's Oddish. She also liked dancing.

"You like to dance? Well, whatever floats your boat." answered the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. He wanted to be on a boat.

Sarah caught the Oddish with her Pokeball.

She then exited the forest and began to head to Goldenrod City.

Incidentally, that was where her home sweet home was.

"It'd be nice to to be back home...though I need to head back to the hideout..." noted Sarah.

Perhaps she could say hi to her mother while she was at it...of course, she didn't seem to be home much. She was typically at the Game Corner trying to get coins.

To be fair, there were Pokemon available at the shop. They were rather cute.

Sarah set out towards the city.

 _Inside the Pokemon Center in Azalea Town..._

"I thought you wanted to face the Gym Leader..." explained Ned.

"In a moment. I'm watching TV..." stated Chris.

Apparently, the incident at Azalea Town had made the news.

"Good evening. I'm Mei Dia. Team Shadow made the headlines when they stole various Slowpokes from a small town so that they could harvest their Slowpoketails for money. Luckily, two children managed to stop them. And yes, they were just children. Apparently, they decided that there was more to a Pokemon adventure than simply collecting Gym badges. We salute them. The operation was being headed by notorious criminal Larry Adachi, who had apparently decided to join forces with the team in order to make more profit. He had the honor of being one of Team Shadow's executives. Police are currently investigating as to who the other executives could possibly be." explained the news reporter.

"Darn. I guess Team Rocket aren't the only ones that like abusing Pokemon. I swear, people need to stop exploiting Pokemon for profit. It's more fun to battle them anyway." answered Chris.

"I prefer researching them." stated Ned.

"Chansey!" exclaimed one of Nurse Joy's Chanseys. It was a good thing that there was a Pokemon Center in Azalea Town. There were a lot of requests for them to treat their Slowpoke. It was a good thing Slowpokes had a healing factor. It made their jobs a lot easier.

Chris continued watching the news. Who else was going to be on TV?

Maybe it would be a famous celebrity.

 _Just for the record, Bugsy is a guy, not a girl. And yet for some strange reason his Pokemon happen to be female...maybe it's some sort of joke. Even his Scyther happens to be a girl._

 _And it seems that Sarah has caught another Pokemon once again. Good thing this wild Pokemon was friendly._

 _In the next chapter, Sarah is going to catch another Pokemon. And yes, she's catching Pokemon rather quickly. I will try to give her Pokemon some development though. They're more interesting that way._


	17. Chapter 17: Sting Like A Beedrill

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to continue collecting Hive Badges...it's still going to be a long while before they can get into the Silver Conference though. Meanwhile, Sarah is going to head to Goldenrod City...but once again she'll prove herself to be clumsy._

 _You know headbutting trees allows you to catch Pokemon? Well, it seems crashing into trees has the same effect...it never happens to our video game protagonist, but what about Sarah?_

 **Chapter 17: Sting Like A Beedrill**

Sarah ran out of Ilex Forest, happy to be back in the sunlight.

It was a good thing that friendly Oddish had showed her the way out of the forest. She was not a grass Pokemon and therefore she should be living in the city instead of a forest.

However, she ended up crashing into a tree.

"Oof!" exclaimed Sarah, once again finding herself in a sitting position. She needed to pay more attention to her surroundings.

In the process, she made a wild Pokemon fall off one of the branches.

"Pineco!" shouted a wild Pineco as it fell out of the tree.

"Whoa!" bellowed the girl. She must have hit the tree pretty hard if she had knocked a Pokemon out of it. Thankfully, she was alright.

Well, she might as well find out just what Pokemon she had knocked out of the tree.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Pokedex.

She then scanned the Pineco for information.

According to the Pokedex, this Pokemon happened to be a bug Pokemon.

"A bug Pokemon? Reminds me of the Heracross I faced earlier..." noted Sarah. Perhaps Jerry took out his anger on a nearby tree and caught a Heracross that way. It wouldn't surprise her.

"Pineco, the Bagworm Pokemon. Typically Pineco is immobile and spends its time hanging from a tree...but when someone knocks it down, it begins to explode!" exclaimed Sarah's Pokedex.

This Pineco happened to be male.

Sarah noticed that there was something in the Pokedex that concerned her and Totodile.

"Wait...Pinecos explode?" questioned Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. That didn't sound good.

Sure enough, Pineco was getting ready to do just that. It was glowing as if he was evolving...yet instead of glowing white he was glowing yellow.

"Pineco!" shouted the bug Pokemon. Bombs away!

Sarah's eyes widened in shock.

"I gotta do something!" exclaimed the girl.

Totodile nodded.

Quickly, she tossed a Pokeball at the Pineco.

Fortunately, it dinged, though there seemed to be smoke coming out from the Pokeball.

"Thank goodness..." stated Sarah. For a second there she thought she was going to take an explosion to the face.

Sarah wondered what she should do with her new Pokemon.

Well, it might come in handy if she wanted to blow up something...though she wasn't quite sure what she should blow up.

She decided to resume her way to Goldenrod City.

However, in the process, she left her hat on the ground.

A wild Aipom took notice.

"Aipom!" exclaimed Aipom. This seemed like a nice hat. Why did she leave it there?

Well, finders keepers.

The wild Aipom picked it up and put it on.

"Aipom!" cheered the wild Aipom. Now the monkey could stand out from the crowd, which was awesome.

 _Back at Bugsy's gym..._

"Right...what is your first choice of Pokemon going to be? You already know my preferences with Pokemon..." asked Bugsy.

"I certainly do. I've made my choice." nodded Jake.

Jake sent out his Cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"A Cyndaquil? Good choice...I see that you picked out your starter Pokemon from Professor Elm..." answered the bug Pokemon trainer.

"I also used to have a Squirtle, but a fire type seemed like a better choice for this gym..." noted Jake.

"I see..." nodded Bugsy. Strangely enough he heard that one of the Team Shadow Grunts happened to be in possession of a Totodile. Where could she have gotten that? Totodiles weren't a common Pokemon in Johto...though it was also likely that they were simply good at hiding themselves. For some strange reason they looked like just small logs in water.

Bugsy sent out his Metapod.

"Metapod!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon. Hopefully she would become a beautiful Butterfree soon. You couldn't exactly do much when you were inside a cocoon.

"Cyndadaquil, use Ember!" ordered Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded and used Ember on Metapod.

"Metapod!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon. Jake's Cyndaquil may be a small Pokemon, but that didn't mean that his flames weren't powerful.

"We're off to a good start! Let's try to keep it that way..." answered Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded. It looked like he and Jake had the upper hand. It was best to keep it that way so that they could get the Hive Badge.

Metapod used Harden. Perhaps increasing her defenses would make life easier for her.

Or maybe not. Cyndaquil was getting ready to use fire again.

"Keep using fire!" ordered Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded, and used Ember on Metapod.

"Metapod..." said the fainted cocoon Pokemon.

Metapod fainted. She was no match for a fire Pokemon, it seemed.

Bugsy returned his Metapod to her Pokeball.

He then sent out his Kakuna.

"Kakuna!" exclaimed the cocoon Pokemon.

"You know what to do." stated Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded, and hit Kakuna with fire.

"Kakuna!" shouted the bug Pokemon. Something told him that Bugsy wasn't doing well against Jake's fire Pokemon.

Still, he was a Pokemon bug expert. Surely, he would be able to think of something.

"Kakuna, use Poison Sting!" ordered Bugsy.

Kakuna nodded and stung Cyndaquil. Apparently she still had her stinger from preevolution.

Cyndaquil was poisoned.

"Cyndaquil..." murmured the unfortunate fire Pokemon.

"Darn...well, I suppose if we keep hitting her with fire, we'll be able to outlast the poison..." noted Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded. That seemed like a good choice.

Cyndaquil hit Kakuna with Ember.

Kakuna fainted. She simply couldn't take the heat. Cyndaquil was turning this gym into a kitchen.

"There goes my second Pokemon...well, I better make my last Pokemon count." remarked Bugsy.

Bugsy withdrew his Kakuna and sent out Scyther.

"Scyther!" exclaimed the mantis Pokemon. For some strange reason her partners kept on fainting yet she always seemed to do well against challengers.

"Careful! This is his strongest Pokemon!" warned Jake.

"Cyndaquil..." noted Jake's Cyndaquil. Surely since he defeated his previous two Pokemon he could take care of Scyther, right?

Still, he got the feeling that Jake wasn't kidding. Scyther certainly looked tougher than her comrades.

"Scyther, use Swords Dance!" instructed Bugsy.

Scyther nodded and used Swords Dance, rubbing the blades on her arms together.

"Cyndaquil..." remarked Jake's Cyndaquil. He didn't like the looks of this.

"Cyndaquil, use Ember!" ordered Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded and used Ember...but Scyther blocked the fire with her blades. It seemed that Bugsy was starting to get wise to Jake's tricks.

"Maybe we should change tactics..." noted the boy.

Cyndaquil nodded. Repeating the same strategy was only going to get him so far.

"Try using Smokescreen!" ordered Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded and bombarded Scyther with smoke.

However, at that very moment, Cyndaquil fainted.

"Huh? Oh, that's right. The poison..." noted Jake. Cyndaquil was bound to faint from that sooner or later.

Well, it was time for him to send out a different Pokemon.

But which one should he choose? He didn't want his Pokemon to be cut down by Scyther's sharp blades.

Perhaps using a different Pokemon would be a good idea.

Fortunately, Jake had an idea. He could just use his Grimer. Sharp objects didn't mean much to him, on account on being made of sludge.

"Go, Grimer!" exclaimed Jake.

"Grimer!" shouted the sludge Pokemon.

"I see that you decided to go on the defensive...good idea." nodded Bugsy.

It seemed that both of them could come up with a strategy.

"Grimer, use Sludge!" ordered the ex-member of Team Rocket.

Grimer nodded and bombarded Scyther with sludge.

This time, it was Scyther it was poisoned.

"This is ironic, isn't it?" noted Bugsy.

"Yep." nodded Jake.

Scyther wasn't feeling too well.

"Scyther, use Cut!" instructed the Pokemon trainer.

Scyther nodded, but it didn't hurt Grimer much, like Jake thought.

"Hit her again, Grimer!" exclaimed Jake.

Grimer nodded and hit Scyther with Sludge.

"Scyther!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon. She was covered in gunk! This wasn't fun for her.

"Fury Cutter!" instructed Bugsy.

Scyther nodded and used Fury Cutter on Grimer, attacking Grimer furiously.

This knocked the breath out of Grimer.

However, Scyther was feeling exhausted afterwards.

"Scyther..." murmured the mantis Pokemon. Anger could really take the wind out of you.

Coupled with the poison, this made Scyther faint.

"Good job. Perhaps you know more about Pokemon than I do. Then again, I mostly research bug Pokemon..." noted Bugsy.

Bugsy handed Jake his Hive Badge.

"Well, that's two badges now...I wonder what the third one is going to be..." answered the boy.

"If you're looking for another Gym Leader...there should be one in Goldenrod City. Mind you, it's a big city so try not to get lost. It has its own department store and radio tower...though for some strange reason people never seem to be able to meet the staff of the Radio Tower...the director never lets them in..." noted the bug type specialist.

"That's too bad." stated Jake. People would most likely like to meet the people who are on the radio waves.

"You can get to Goldenrod City through the Ilex Forest..." noted Bugsy. That was a good place to study Pokemon.

Jake nodded.

After healing their Pokemon, Jake and Lucy decided to head into the forest.

They discovered that someone else was there.

"Morgiana? Is that you?" questioned Lucy.

Morgiana nodded.

"Good to see you again...I was on my way back home to Goldenrod City..." noted Morgiana.

"It's good to be back home, right?" asked the young girl.

"Yes, it is. I decided to admire the Ilex Shrine on the way there. It must be a pretty powerful Pokemon if it's guarding the entire forest..." remarked the lady.

Jake nodded.

"I would like to meet it someday..." noted Morgiana.

"Maybe you will..." answered Jake.

"Well, it's time for me to head back now. I'll be seeing you later." stated the lady.

"Bye!" exclaimed Lucy.

Morgiana exited the forest.

"It's nice seeing her again..." remarked the young girl.

"Yeah...apparently she likes nature..." noted Jake.

 _Meanwhile..._

"I've got some bad news. Our operation in Azalea Town was a bust..." explained Larry.

"I already know..." answered Larry's employer.

"I cannot believe that I lost to a bunch of kids!" exclaimed the Team Shadow executive.

"Ah yes, I seem to recall Team Rocket being destroyed by a bunch of kids...we should take precautions to ensure that this doesn't happen again..." answered the man at the other side of the phone.

"I ended up losing to a little girl...it's so embarrassing..." remarked Larry. He can't believe that he would suffer such an enormous blow to his ego. His ego had been hit harder than his Pokemon by her Mareep and her Clefairy.

"To be fair, I heard rumors that she was the daughter of an renowned Pokemon trainer. Children always inherit the skills of their parents, don't they?" stated the boss. Perhaps she would surpass her father someday.

"Really? Huh...somehow I don't feel so bad anymore." answered the Team Shadow executive.

"Since you've obviously had a bad day I'm going to be assigning our next operation to another Team Shadow executive...you remember Violet?" inquired the boss.

"Why'd you place her higher up than me?" asked Larry.

"Because she's the stronger Pokemon trainer...and she's a master of disguise." explained the man.

Larry sighed. He thought of himself as one of the best criminals in Johto and yet his employer decided to place another criminal above him other than himself.

At least he got to boss around all the Team Shadow Grunts. Their incompetence astounded him sometimes. On the other hand, Sarah seemed to know what she was doing. Not only had she succeeded magnificently on her mission, she had also managed to snag one of Professor Elm's Totodiles, which were rare Pokemon in Johto indeed.

Of course, she also had in possession of a Togepi...but Togepi didn't seem valuable at first glance. Still, it seemed like Togepi made everyone around her cheerful. Why exactly was that?

Togepi was a mysterious Pokemon.

 _Elsewhere..._

Chris and Ned entered the gym, ready to challenge the Gym Leader.

"You can go first." answered Chris.

"Really? I was under the impression that you wanted to go first..." stated Ned.

"I did at first, but it seems like you two are both intellectuals. I'm sure you will get along mightily. And I'm interested to see how this turns out." remarked Chris.

"I suppose I am too..." nodded the boy.

"Greetings. I see that yet another Pokemon trainer wishes to challenge me...well, it helps my research on bug Pokemon move forward, so the more the merrier." answered the bug Pokemon trainer.

"Can I go first?" asked Ned.

Bugsy nodded. His Pokemon were rather predictable anyway...though his Scyther tended to surprise people. He had caught her in a bug catching competition. As one could imagine, Bugsy excelled at those types of competitions.

"Alright. Go, Hoothoot!" exclaimed the boy.

"Hoothoot!" shouted the owl Pokemon.

"A flying type? Excellent choice...but I'll have you know that my strongest Pokemon is also a flying Pokemon...so don't expect too much of a flight advantage." answered Bugsy.

"Right..." nodded Ned.

Bugsy sent out his Kakuna.

"Kakuna!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

"Hoothoot, use Peck!" instructed Ned.

Hoothoot nodded and pecked Kakuna on the forehead...no, not on the cheek.

"Kakuna!" exclaimed the cocoon Pokemon.

In retaliation, Kakuna used Harden.

"Seems that she's boosting her defense..." noted Ned.

"Hoothoot?" asked Ned's Hoothoot. Was there something she should do?

"Wait...Kakuna's a poison type too, right?" asked the boy.

"Hoothoot." nodded Ned's Hoothoot. She believed so, yes.

"In that case...use Confusion!" instructed Ned.

"Oh no..." thought Bugsy. Seems that Ned had discovered another weakness of one of his Pokemon besides the obvious ones.

"Kakuna!" shouted the cocoon Pokemon.

Kakuna fainted.

Bugsy withdrew his Kakuna.

"Metapod, I choose you!" exclaimed Bugsy.

 _And the next Pokemon to be added to Sarah's roster is Pineco. Unsurprisingly, I decided to give her a Pokemon that just so happens to be rather destructive. You'd be surprised how early Pineco can learn Self-Destruct._

 _You'll find out how Ned's battle with Bugsy turns out later. Then he'll battle Chris._

 _In the next chapter, Sarah will meet Morgiana herself. Wonderful lady she is, right?_


	18. Chapter 18: Cut Above The Rest

_In this chapter, Sarah is going to have the honor of meeting Morgiana. Lucy and Jake have already encountered her twice, so perhaps a different character can encounter her._

 _We're also going to see just how strong of a Pokemon trainer she is. Just for the record, she isn't the champion of Johto. It's Lance just like in the games._

 _Also, Ned and Chris are going to battle Bugsy._

 **Chapter 18: Cut Above The Rest**

Sarah gave her employer a phone call.

"Have you made it to Mahogany?" asked the man in charge of Team Shadow.

"I'm getting closer...I'm in Goldenrod City right now. In fact, that's where my mother and I live..." explained Sarah.

She had to admit, the city was rather expansive. There was a radio tower as well as a bike store.

"Home sweet home? Just remember, you've still got a ways to get to our headquarters..." noted the leader of Team Shadow.

"Right, I'll talk to you later..." answered the girl.

Suddenly, she bumped into someone.

That person happened to be Morgiana.

"Whoops!" exclaimed Sarah.

"I guess you didn't see me..." answered Morgiana.

Sarah's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait, you're Morgiana! You're a celebrity across Johto! Everyone's heard of you! You've even been on TV!" exclaimed Sarah.

"I certainly am...when you're as well off as me...people tend to respect you..." answered Morgiana.

"My mother's trying to strike it rich...I'm not sure how well she does at gambling to be honest." stated Sarah. Hopefully she would be successful one day.

"I see...do you happen to live in Goldenrod City like I do?" inquired the lady.

"Yeah..." nodded Sarah.

"I happen to own a mansion...it's right over there." explained Morgiana.

Morgiana pointed to her mansion.

Sarah gasped in astonishment.

"Good grief, it's huge!" exclaimed the young girl. Apparently, all of Morgiana's wealth was going somewhere. In front of the mansion was a wall and a gate.

"I know..." nodded Morgiana. She happened to have that mansion for years. Her parents happened to own a mansion of their own, though it wasn't as big as hers.

Part of Sarah wished that she could live in a place like this. She lived in a small home along with her mother...who wasn't even there that often. She was in love with the slot machines.

She had become a Pokemon trainer though, so she decided not to ask for too much else. She didn't want to be blind to what she already had. Especially Totodile. He was her best friend forever.

Then again, she hadn't made a whole lot of friends.

Suddenly, a familiar face showed up.

Totodile immediately frowned. Why did Jerry always have to spoil their fun?

"Jerry, what are you doing here?" asked Sarah.

"I'm here to challenge the Gym Leader! Duh!" exclaimed Jerry. He heard that she was a simple farm girl so he figured that it would be easy.

"Right..." answered the girl. She had seen the Goldenrod City Gym Leader sometimes. She had a liking for cute Pokemon.

Now that she thought of it, her Totodile was rather cute...though admittedly he had a sharp mouth full of fangs. So was her Togepi.

Currently, her Togepi was sleeping.

"Togepi..." murmured the egg Pokemon. Since she was a baby, she took naps every now and then.

"Wait, you're Morgiana! I hear that you're filthy rich!" shouted the youngster.

"A lot of people say that about me..." answered Morgiana.

"Big deal! You're not even a Pokemon trainer like me! You need to be a Pokemon trainer if you REALLY want people to respect you!" shouted the boy.

"Actually, I am a Pokemon trainer." stated the lady.

"What?!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Would you like me to demonstrate my Pokemon?" asked Morgiana. She happened to have a full party of them, but she primarily used her starter Pokemon.

"I bet you're a wimpy Pokemon trainer...so yes!" shouted the youngster.

"I assure you I'm a formidable Pokemon trainer..." answered the lady.

Immediately, she pulled out a Pokeball.

"Yeah, right!" exclaimed Jerry. He was sure that he could beat her easy.

"Go, Wigglytuff!" shouted Morgiana.

"Wigglytuff!" bellowed the balloon Pokemon.

Jerry gasped in surprise.

"Wigglytuff? Not even my rival Chris has that!" shouted Jerry. Last time he checked her Jigglypuff hadn't laid a hand on a Moon Stone.

Jerry scanned Wigglytuff with his Pokedex.

"Wigglytuff, the Balloon Pokemon. Wigglytuff has luxurious fur, and can inflate itself when it is angered." read Jerry's Pokedex.

"Surprised?" asked Morgiana. She had discovered a Moon Stone during a trip to Mt. Moon and she figured that her Jigglypuff would want it...which she did.

All of a sudden, Jerry was having second thoughts about this. Her Wigglytuff looked really really strong.

At that very moment, his Totodile came out of his Pokeball.

"Funny, my Totodile loved doing that..." noted Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. He wanted some freedom.

Fortunately, thanks to Sarah, he didn't need to be in a Pokeball anymore.

Apparently, Jerry's Totodile wanted to fight Wigglytuff.

"Um, I think she might be too strong..." answered Jerry.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile. He was pretty sure that he could handle anything.

Unfortunately, Wigglytuff proved him wrong.

"Body Slam!" ordered Morgiana.

Wigglytuff immediately hit Totodile with a powerful Body Slam.

Jerry's Totodile fainted instantly, much to Jerry's shock.

"Totodile..." murmured Jerry's Totodile. He could not believe that he lost. Wigglytuff hadn't even broken a sweat.

Curiously, Togepi was still sleeping. It was a shame really. That was quite a show.

"I'm not easily impressed, but that was totally awesome!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Aren't you usually a sore loser?" asked Sarah.

"Normally yes, but her Wigglytuff is like a legendary Pokemon! I don't think I'm worthy to even meet her now..." shouted the youngster.

"You flatter me." answered Morgiana. She happened to have had her Wigglytuff since she was an egg. Naturally, it had hatched into an Igglybuff. A sweet adorable Igglybuff.

"By the way, why do you always keep that parasol with you?" asked Sarah. It was sunny out.

"One of my Pokemon happens to know Rain Dance..." explained the lady.

"Oh, I see..." nodded the girl. Apparently, some Pokemon were strong enough to control the weather to a certain extent.

"How did you get so strong?" asked Jerry.

"Well, it wasn't exactly hard to give my Jigglypuff a Moon Stone...I happen to be well off so I can purchase my own evolutionary stones..." remarked Morgiana.

Still, she decided not to evolve her Jigglypuff as soon as she obtained it. If she did, her Jigglypuff wouldn't be able to learn more techniques. But once she was satisfied, she decided to evolve her Jigglypuff into a Wigglytuff.

"I'll see you later. I've got people to meet." answered Sarah.

"So do I, actually." stated Morgiana.

Suddenly, Jerry noticed something.

"Where's your hat? It's not nearly as awesome as mine, but I'm still curious..." stated Jerry.

"What? It's right on my h-what the-how the-why the-" questioned Sarah, grasping her now bare head. At least she still had her pink hair. It was cute.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. It looked like they were going to have a take a break from their mission and search for the hat.

The only question was...where on earth could her hat possibly be?

Hopefully she hadn't lost it in the Ilex Forest. If she had, she probably wouldn't be able to find it.

It then suddenly occurred to her that she had probably lost it when she had crashed into that tree.

"Oh, that's right. Now I remember!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Totodile!" shouted Sarah's Totodile. Perhaps it was located near the Pokemon Day Care Center.

 _At the Azalea Town Gym..._

For some strange reason, Ned got the feeling that Metapod wasn't going to fare any better against his Pokemon than Kakuna did.

Still, he wasn't complaining. Defeating Bugsy would earn his Pokemon valuable experience which would allow them to level up. And leveling up his Pokemon was something that he needed to do if he wanted to do well in the Silver Conference.

Perhaps his Pokemon would evolve if they were lucky. What exactly did Hoothoot evolve into though? He got the feeling that she would evolve into something, but he wasn't quite sure what. It would most likely be another flying Pokemon though.

He instructed his Hoothoot to use Peck.

"Metapod!" exclaimed Metapod. That one happened to be a critical hit.

In retaliation, Bugsy instructed Metapod to use Harden. Maybe having extra defense would give her the edge.

But unfortunately for Metapod, Hoothoot managed to get past her defenses.

Metapod fainted.

"Metapod..." murmured the unfortunate bug Pokemon. On the plus side, she got the feeling that she was going to evolve soon.

"I guess it's time for me to send out Scyther..." noted Bugsy.

Sure enough, Bugsy did just that.

"Scyther scythe!" exclaimed Bugsy's main Pokemon.

"Something tells me this one's going to be harder to beat than the other two..." remarked Ned. Those blades sure looked rather sharp.

Hoothoot noted that she might be in trouble now. Sure, she could fly...but so could Scyther apparently. She no longer had the flight advantage.

And to make matters worse, Scyther was fast. Really fast.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed the owl Pokemon. How was she supposed to hit the bug Pokemon?

Scyther hit Hoothoot with Cut.

It was a critical hit.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Hoothoot. That really hurt.

Hoothoot tried pecking Scyther, but she blocked it with her scythe.

She then slashed Hoothoot.

Hoothoot fainted.

"Hoothoot..." said the owl Pokemon. She had to admit, it was pretty impressive that it took all three of Bugsy's Pokemon to take her down.

"Poor Hoothoot...well, at least I still have two Pokemon left." noted Ned.

It was time to send out a different Pokemon.

He decided to send out his Seel. He happened to be part ice type.

"Go, Seel!" exclaimed Ned.

"Seel seel!" shouted the ice Pokemon.

Scyther attempted to cut Seel with her scythes, but he blocked it with his horn.

He then hit Scyther with Ice Beam.

Scyther was frozen solid.

"This can't be good." noted Bugsy. If only he he had brought Ice Heal.

Ned's Seel then finished Scyther with a well-placed Horn Attack.

Since Scyther had fainted, Bugsy decided to give Ned the Hive Badge.

"It's nice to meet an intellectual like myself..." noted Bugsy.

"I know, right?" asked Ned.

"Right...I guess it's my turn now." answered Chris. She was looking forward to this.

After Bugsy healed his Pokemon at the Pokemon Center, he was ready to fight again.

"You ready?" asked Bugsy.

"I was born ready!" exclaimed Chris.

"Go, Metapod!" shouted the bug Pokemon trainer.

"Metapod!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

"Hmm, I was expecting more of a challenge..." remarked Chris.

Suddenly, Metapod evolved into Butterfree.

"You might want to be careful what you wish for..." noted Ned.

"Big deal! I can still take her on!" shouted Chris.

Chris decided to send out a bug Pokemon of her own.

"Go, Spinarak!" exclaimed Chris.

"Spinarak!" shouted the spider Pokemon.

"Butterfree, use Confusion!" ordered Bugsy.

Butterfree nodded.

Unfortunately for Spinarak, it was super effective.

"Spinarak!" shouted the bug Pokemon.

"Come on! Don't tell me you're going to lose that easy! Try using Poison Sting!" instructed Chris.

Spinarak nodded and used Poison Sting on Butterfree.

"Butterfree!" exclaimed the butterfly Pokemon. She was poisoned.

However, Butterfree hit Spinarak with Confusion and she fainted.

"Spinarak..." murmured the fainted spider Pokemon.

Chris sighed and recalled her fainted bug Pokemon.

She then sent out Poliwag.

"Poliwag!" exclaimed the tadpole Pokemon.

Hopefully Poliwag would do better since he wasn't so vulnerable to psychic attacks.

Not only that, but he was apparently a strong Pokemon, much like her Jigglypuff.

She decided to put that to the test.

"Use Water Gun!" instructed Chris.

Poliwag nodded and blasted Butterfree with water. It seemed to be a powerful blast.

"Butterfree!" exclaimed the flying type. That had been a critical hit.

Butterfree used Confusion, but Poliwag wasn't confused.

Poliwag then hit Butterfree with another Water Gun.

Butterfree fainted. Of course, the poison had helped.

"Not bad. How about you try going up against Kakuna now?" asked Bugsy.

"That'd be too easy for my Poliwag..." remarked Chris.

Suddenly, Kakuna came out of her Pokeball on her own.

Bugsy wondered what was going on.

As it turned out, Kakuna was evolving into Beedrill.

"Two Pokemon evolutions in one fight? Must be my lucky day..." noted Bugsy.

"Yeah..." nodded Ned. Of course, Caterpies and Weedles were both fast evolvers.

"Poliwag, use Bubble!" exclaimed Chris.

Poliwag used Bubble...

...but Beedrill used one of her drills to burst the bubble.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

"Well, that was embarrassing..." noted Chris.

"Poliwag..." murmured the sad water Pokemon. He was doing so well earlier.

Beedrill then used Fury Attack on Poliwag.

"Poliwag!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Poliwag then used Water Gun, but Beedrill was fast enough to avoid it.

Beedrill used Poison Sting, and Poliwag fainted.

"Poliwag..." murmured the fainted water Pokemon.

Chris sighed. Now she had only one Pokemon left.

Well, she had better make it count.

She decided to send out Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon.

"Using your starter? Good move." noted Ned. Perhaps he could have used his Eevee against Bugsy.

Chris instructed Jigglypuff to use Sing.

That usually worked...and this time, it did.

Beedrill fell asleep.

"Wake up!" instructed Bugsy.

Beedrill remained asleep.

With Beedrill asleep, Jigglypuff had an opportunity to strike...which she did.

Chris instructed Jigglypuff to use Rollout.

It hit Beedrill and she fainted.

"Beedrill..." murmured the fainted bug Pokemon.

Now all that was left was Scyther.

"Scythe!" exclaimed Scyther.

Chris tried to have Jigglypuff use Sing again...

...but Scyther was too quick for her.

Jigglypuff ended up being deflated by Scyther's scythe...which made Jigglypuff faint.

"Dang it! I lost!" exclaimed Chris. This didn't happen very often.

"Well, you were the one that kept asking for a challenge..." noted Ned.

"Yeah...I guess I bit off more than I could chew this time." remarked Chris.

Well, at least she had an excuse for training her Pokemon some more.

She decided to go outdoors and train her Pokemon.

 _Meanwhile at Route 34..._

Sarah went to search for her hat. It had to be around the route somewhere.

Much to her surprise, she found that an Aipom was wearing it.

"Give that back!" exclaimed Sarah.

The Aipom simply climbed up a tree.

"How am I going to get my hat back?" asked the girl.

Totodile noted that perhaps she should challenge the Aipom to a Pokemon battle in order to get it back.

Surely there was a Pokemon that she could use to battle Aipom.

"Hmm..." thought Sarah.

She decided to send out Pineco.

"Go, Pineco!" shouted Sarah.

"Pineco!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

 _Hopefully Sarah can get her hat back from that Aipom. Also, it seems like Ned has obtained a Hive Badge for himself. Hooray for Ned._

 _Unfortunately for Chris, she didn't win the Hive Badge. Maybe she can catch a Pokemon that will help._


	19. Chapter 19: Houndoured

_In this chapter, Chris is going to catch a Houndour. Since Houndour is normally only found in Kanto I figure I might as well include it now. I figure that Chris could use a fire type like that. Of course, Houndour can also be found in the Safari Zone in the remakes, but but anyways...I also intend to give Sarah a fire type that represents something destructive as befitting her personality...but not just yet._

 _Speaking of Sarah, she's going to catch a Pokemon too. It's that Aipom that she encountered earlier. After that, she's going to keep on heading to Mahogany Town._

 **Chapter 19: Houndoured**

"Do you have to do your training at night? I hear that at night Pokemon like to go hunting..." noted Ned. Ghost Pokemon also tended to go outside at night. Seems it was easier to get the jump on people that way.

"I'll be fine." answered Chris. She had her Pokemon with her. What was the worst that could happen? She doubted that there were Legendary Pokemon in a small town like Azalea.

Besides, they had gone far from Azalea Town, since Chris wanted to rematch Bugsy. They could come running back if they ever got into trouble. Nurse Joy could surely heal their injured Pokemon like she always did.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of howling.

Ned started to feel rather nervous.

"What's this?" inquired Chris. It seemed that there were wild Pokemon nearby.

Shortly afterward, a wild Houndour appeared. Apparently, Ned was right when he said that aggressive wild Pokemon came out at night.

"Houndour..." said the fire Pokemon. He appeared to be looking for something, though Chris wasn't quite sure what.

Ned began to sweat. This was what he was afraid of.

"See what I mean, Chris?" asked Ned. That Pokemon didn't look exactly friendly.

As soon as the Houndour saw Chris, it began to bark.

Ned began to sweat harder.

Fortunately, it wasn't attacking her. Perhaps he was more bark than bite, though he did look rather scary. Not as scary as his evolution, but scary nonetheless.

Chris scanned the Houndour with her Pokedex. Might as well learn some information about the Pokemon before catching it. What type pf Pokemon could it possibly be?

"Houndour, the Dark Pokemon! Houndour typically hunts in packs, and has excellent teamwork skills!" exclaimed Chris.

This Houndour was male.

Chris noticed that for some strange reason this Houndour was not with his pack. That was unusual given what the Pokedex had to say about that particular Pokemon.

"Wait, where's the rest of your pack?" asked Chris. Was this a lone Houndour?

"Houndour..." murmured the Houndour. He was looking for them. Where were they? Maybe he should try howling at the moon. That ought to attract their attention.

"Well, since you're all alone...how about I challenge you with my Poliwag? If I win, you'll be coming with me." dared Chris.

Houndour noted that he did like a challenge...though he doubted that he would ever challenge the pack leader.

"Houndour!" exclaimed the dog Pokemon. Challenge accepted.

"You remind me of my Growlithe..." remarked Ned.

"Houndour?" asked Houndour. They were a rather similar Pokemon...though for some strange reason Growlithe were a lot more popular as pets.

"Go, Poliwag!" exclaimed Chris, tossing Poliwag's Pokeball.

"Poliwag!" shouted the water Pokemon as he appeared out of his Pokeball. He had been itching for a fight and now it looked like he was getting his chance.

Houndour noted that he might be in trouble. Poliwag happened to be a water type, and he happened to be a fire type.

However, he also realized that he wasn't just a fire type. He was also a dark type.

Unfortunately, dark types weren't super effective against water Pokemon, though they weren't ineffective against water types either.

"Wait...what's this about being a dark type?" questioned Chris.

"According to the Pokedex, dark types work best against psychic types. They're effective against ghost types too." noted Ned.

However, they were weak to fighting and bug types. Fortunately, Houndour's fire type cancelled his bug type weakness out, so he didn't have to worry as much about bug Pokemon shooting Signal Beams at him.

Chris noted that with different regions came different types of Pokemon.

"Poliwag, use Water Gun!" instructed Chris.

Poliwag nodded and pelted Houndour with a blast of water from his mouth. He had learned how to fire it quickly. That was something that he was proud of.

"Houndour!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. Now he was soaking wet.

In retaliation, he took a bite into Poliwag.

"Poliwag!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. That hurt.

Fortunately, he didn't take too much damage.

Poliwag proceeded to use Bubble.

The bubble burst on the wild Houndour's face, much to his surprise. He jumped in alarm.

"Houndour!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. Type disadvantages were a real pain. His pack had to choose their targets carefully because of that.

Houndour began to pant. He was feeling tired. Life would be easier for him if he fought against a grass or a psychic type. An Exeggcute would be a perfect opponent for him.

Chris tossed a Dusk Ball at the Houndour. She could thank Kurt for giving her one. How many different kinds of apricorns were there, anyway? They seemed to come in all sorts of different colors.

After a few seconds, Houndour was caught.

"Yes!" exclaimed Chris.

Now she could use it against Bugsy. That should make her life a lot easier, wouldn't it?

"You sure you want a Pokemon like that? He's probably aggressive." asked Ned. He recalled the time that Chris had caught a Gastly even though it terrified him. They just had different tastes in Pokemon.

Chris sent out Houndour from his Pokeball.

"Let's see if he's vicious as you claim..." stated Chris.

Chris patted Houndour on the head.

Houndour began to pant. That felt surprisingly nice. Why didn't the other Houndours ever think of that?

Then again, they focused more on hunting than personal pleasure.

She then scratched behind Houndour's ear.

Houndour licked her in the face.

"Huh. I guess he's not so fierce after all." noted Ned. Perhaps he shouldn't judge a book by its cover...unless there was a skull on crossbones on the book along with a message saying that the book should never be opened.

"Yeah...I think that Gastly that I caught in the Pokemon Tower was scarier" remarked Chris. Ned was a lot more frightened by Gastly than she was.

Still, she got the feeling that Houndour wasn't a bad fighter and that he would be useful for her.

 _Meanwhile..._

After making their way through the Ilex Forest, Jake and Lucy encountered Sarah.

Lucy in particularly enjoyed the scenery, though she was a bit dismayed that the trees were being used to make charcoal. Too much tree cutting was hazardous to the environment.

There was a reason that she liked grass Pokemon, though for some strange reason her Venusaur was also a poison type.

Her Clefairy was looking forward to going to Goldenrod City. She heard that there was a famous celebrity living there. Her name was Morgiana.

"Sarah? Is that you?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy?" questioned Lucy's Clefairy. Was Sarah looking for something? Despite her kleptomaniac tendencies, she had not taken anything from her, so she wasn't sure what she was looking for.

Sarah nodded.

Jake noticed that Sarah wasn't wearing her hat.

"What happened to your hat?" asked Jake.

"A wild Pokemon stole it..." explained Sarah, rubbing her bare head.

"I know how that feels..." answered the boy. He still remembered his meeting with his Mankey, who was now a Primeape.

"Maybe you need something to lure it out?" questioned the girl.

Sarah reached into her bag and pulled out a banana.

"Hmm..." said Sarah.

She decided to set the banana on the ground to see if Aipom would appear.

The ape Pokemon did.

A wide smile formed on its face as it noticed the banana.

"Aipom!" exclaimed the ape Pokemon. Nothing like a tasty snack while swinging from vines.

Happily, the Aipom munched on the banana, leaving the banana peel on the ground.

However, it began to wonder why there was a banana in the floor. This wasn't a jungle, was it?

Suddenly, Sarah tossed a Pokeball at the ape Pokemon.

Aipom's eyes widened in surprise. It looked like this was a trap.

However, it was already too late. The Pokeball opened up and it was sucked inside.

In the process, Aipom dropped the hat that she was wearing on its head.

Sarah then quickly put on her hat.

"That feels so much better..." remarked Sarah.

After a brief struggle, the Pokeball dinged.

"Hmm?" questioned the pink-haired girl.

Sarah decided to scan Aipom with her Pokedex. She simply wanted her hat back, but this was a nice added bonus.

"Aipom, the Long Tail Pokemon! Aipom's tail ends with a hand-like appendage that can be used to grab onto tree branches! However, its actual hands are rather clumsy!" exclaimed the Pokedex.

"Reminds me a bit of myself..." answered Sarah. Only in her case, it was her legs that were clumsy.

Perhaps it would be best for her new Aipom not to hold onto anything for her...unless, of course, she was using the hand that was on her tail.

"You sure have been catching a lot of Pokemon..." noted Lucy.

Sarah nodded. Fortunately, she had access to Bill's PC. Speaking of which, she heard that his family lived in Goldenrod City.

Since she got her hat back, she decided to head back to Goldenrod City. It was time for her to resume her trip to Mahogany Town.

After seeing Sarah off, Lucy and Jake noticed that there was a Pokemon Daycare nearby.

Perhaps visiting it would be rather interesting.

They decided to go inside and check it out.

 _Meanwhile..._

Since Chris had lost last time, she decided to make adjustments to her Pokemon team. Chances are she would do better that way.

Fortunately, Nurse Joy had managed to heal her new Houndour and her Poliwag rather quickly.

"Take care now! Although, I'm starting to wonder if I should have a Pokemon Center that's next to a gym...I always seem to have to work overtime..." noted Nurse Joy.

Well, she was being paid. That was what mattered, right?

Since her Pokemon were in top condition, Chris decided it was time to enter the gym again.

"Are you here for a rematch?" asked Bugsy. For some strange reason whenever trainers lost they always seemed to lose to his Scyther, not to his Kakuna or Metapod.

Well, they were Butterfree and Beedrill now.

Chris nodded.

"Go, Butterfree!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon trainer.

Bugsy sent out Butterfree.

"Butterfree!" shouted the butterfly Pokemon, flying around the gym.

Chris sent out Houndour.

"Houndour!" exclaimed Houndour.

"Butterfree, use Confusion!" instructed Bugsy.

Butterfree used Confusion.

But much to his surprise, Confusion didn't hurt Houndour at all.

Houndour looked at Butterfree with confusion. Why exactly did Butterfree try to use a psychic type move on him of all Pokemon?

It seemed that dark types were invulnerable to psychic type attacks.

"Well, this is rather convenient for me, isn't it?" remarked Chris.

Bugsy noted that he might be in trouble. Unfortunately, Butterfree did not use bug types, so he couldn't do super effective damage towards Houndour.

"Houndour, use Ember!" instructed Chris.

Houndour nodded and used Ember on Butterfree. Naturally, it was super effective.

"Butterfree!" exclaimed the butterfly Pokemon. Even without his pack, Houndour was not a weak opponent.

Butterfree tried to use Tackle, but Houndour was too quick. He did a lot of running back when he was in the wild, so he had rather decent reflexes.

Chris instructed Houndour to use Ember again.

Butterfree fainted.

"Butterfree..." murmured the bug Pokemon. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to do well. She was up against a fire type and she was a bug type.

Bugsy sighed. Round one went to Chris.

Still, things would be worse if his Metapod hadn't evolved recently, so he was thankful for that.

It was time to send out Beedrill.

"Go, Beedrill!" exclaimed Bugsy.

"Beedrill!" shouted the bee Pokemon.

"Ready, Houndour?" asked Chris.

Houndour nodded. He defeated one of Bugsy's Pokemon, so he was under the impression that he could take on another.

"Beedrill, use Poison Sting!" instructed Bugsy.

Beedrill nodded and lunged towards Houndour with her stinger. Maybe some venom would allow Bugsy to turn the battle around.

However, Houndour dodged it and he bit into Beedrill.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed the bee Pokemon.

He then followed with an Ember attack, burning Beedrill.

However, Beedrill hit Houndour with Fury Attack.

"Houndour!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. That was one angry Beedrill.

Shortly afterwards, Beedrill fainted from the burn.

"Beedrill..." murmured the bee Pokemon. Was Scyther going to be enough to take down all three of Chris's Pokemon?

With Beedrill out of the picture, Bugsy sent out his last Pokemon.

That Pokemon of course was his Scyther.

"Scyther!" exclaimed the mantis Pokemon. It looked like Butterfree and Beedrill had both failed.

"Round 2 with Scyther, eh? Let's see if I do better this time..." noted Chris.

Of course, since she had a fire type, she probably WOULD do better.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Scyther was too fast for Houndour. He was moving too fast for Houndour to see...and it was rather difficult to hit an opponent if they weren't visible.

Scyther struck Houndour with U-Turn before he could react.

Unfortunately, it seemed that dark types were vulnerable to bug types. However, Houndour's fire typing helped counter that.

Even so, that U-Turn packed a wallop.

"Use Fury Cutter!" instructed Bugsy.

Scyther cut into Houndour viciously.

Houndour fainted. It looked like taking on three bug Pokemon was too much for him.

"Dang...fortunately, I think I may have come up with a solution to dealing with Scyther..." noted Chris.

"What solution is that?" asked Ned.

Chris withdrew her fainted Pokemon and sent out Shellder.

"Shellder!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Bugsy wondered what Chris was up to.

He decided to have Scyther use Fury Cutter on Shellder.

However, Shellder blocked it with her shell.

"Scyther?" inquired the bug Pokemon.

"I figured I needed a good defense to get past Scyther..." noted Chris.

"Shielder!" exclaimed Chris's Shellder. Thank goodness for her sturdy shell. Personally she wondered how strong her shell would be once she became a Cloyster.

Eventually, Scyther started to tire.

"Scyther..." muttered the mantis Pokemon. Such an ironclad Pokemon.

Now it was Chris's opportunity to fight back.

"Shellder, use Icicle Spear!" exclaimed Chris.

Shellder nodded and launched Icicle Spears at Scyther.

Scyther was frozen solid.

"Scy...ther." said the frozen bug Pokemon. It looked like his opponent wanted him to chill out...literally. His teeth were chattering.

Bugsy noted that this fight might not turn out so well for him this time. Now that Scyther was frozen, there was nothing stopping Shelder from attacking him.

Now that Scyther was safely frozen, Chris decided that now would be a good time for her to go on the offensive.

Chris had Shellder use Brine on Scyther.

Scyther collapsed on the ground.

"Congratulations. Here is your Hive Badge." said Bugsy.

Chris happily accepted the Hive Badge. Now it was time to head to Goldenrod City.

"Score!" exclaimed Chris.

"I guess we better get going..." noted Ned.

Chris nodded. She wanted to get her third badge.

Together, the two of them set off to Goldenrod City.

 _It looks like Chris managed to obtain the Hive Badge. Now it is time to go to Goldenrod City so that they can get their next badge. Whitney is a strong Gym Leader, much like most of the Gym Leaders in Johto. On the lighter side, she only has two Pokemon...  
_

 _In the next chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to stop by the Pokemon Daycare..._


	20. Chapter 20: Goldenrod Rule

In _this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to visit the Pokemon Daycare. It's full of cute baby Pokemon. Goldenrod City isn't far from where they are. Maybe our protagonists will catch baby Pokémon someday. Clefairy isn't a baby Pokemon anymore though. She grew up a while ago._

 _Also, Goldenrod City is going to make its first appearance. There's a reason why I decided to call this chapter "Goldenrod Rule". Well, that and it was a pun._

 **Chapter 20: Goldenrod Rule**

Lucy and Jake approached the Pokémon Daycare. For some strange reason, it always seemed to be open, even at night. Maybe they should check the schedule.

Well, if they ever needed someone to look after their Pokémon, this was the place that they wanted to go. They didn't want to keep sending them to Professor Oak's PC. Could he really look after them all?

The daycare in question was being run by a friendly old couple. Apparently, they could also breed their Pokémon there. But which Pokémon should they breed? That was something they wondered. They had caught several Pokemon at this point.

"Didn't I adopt a Psyduck from a place like this?" questioned Lucy. He was in the care of Mr. Fuji when they first met. You wouldn't find a nicer man on the planet.

"Yeah...I think he became a Golduck..." noted Jake. That put an end to his headaches. It also allowed him to better utilize his psychic abilities, even though technically speaking he wasn't a psychic Pokemon.

Sure enough, there were many Pokemon inside...however, there was a twist. It seemed that most of them were babies. It seems that they were all getting ready to challenging other Pokemon. Their stats were a bit low for fighting others at the moment, though they might have a chance if they had a type advantage.

"Pichu! Pichu!" exclaimed one of the baby Pokémon at the daycare center.

One of them happened to look like Clefairy, though it was certainly younger than hers. It was waiting for the full moon that was supposedly going to happen tonight.

"Cleffa!" exclaimed the baby fairy Pokemon.

Lucy scanned it with her Pokedex. Perhaps the two Pokemon were related somehow.

"Cleffa, the Star Shape Pokemon. It resembles a star, and tends to be spotted during meteor showers." read Lucy's Pokedex.

Cleffa stuck her tongue out.

"This Pokemon happens to look a lot like you, Clefairy..." noted Lucy.

"Cleffa!" exclaimed the young Pokémon.

Fortunately, this Pokémon didn't seem to be a kleptomaniac...though it was eyeing an Igglybuff's toy blocks curiously. When you put them together they spelled out "MOON", much like the Moon Stones both of them could use to evolve into their final forms once they weren't babies anymore.

"Clefairy." said Lucy's Clefairy. That wasn't just a coincidence.

"Wait, you used to be one of these?" inquired the girl.

Clefairy nodded. Back then, she was living in a spaceship instead of driving them. She also was receiving things instead of taking them from others. She enjoyed drinking milk. She had been looking forward to being a pilot when she grew up...though when she actually started piloting a spaceship she eventually crashed on Earth.

One day she evolved while she was feeling particularly cheerful. Her Clefable parents were rather happy about the occasion. Now she was all grown up.

Hopefully when that Cleffa grew up she would be more careful when she drove a spaceship than she was. On the other hand, she would have never met Lucy if she didn't crash that spaceship. It was kind of funny.

"Igglybuff! Igglybuff!" exclaimed an Igglybuff. She was bouncing up and down. It was fun.

"This one looks like Chris's Jigglypuff..." noted Jake. Perhaps Jigglypuff was originally one of these.

Jake scanned it with his Pokedex.

"Igglybuff, the Balloon Pokemon. Once it starts bouncing, it won't be able to stop. Also, its vocal chords aren't fully developed, so it won't be able to sing for too long." said Jake's Pokedex.

Apparently, this was the preevolution of Jigglypuff.

"You think when she grows up she'll become a famous singer?" asked Jake.

"She'll probably end up putting her audience to sleep." noted Lucy. She knew how sleepy Chris's Jigglypuff's singing made her feel. Although, Wigglytuff weren't known for putting people to sleep, now were they?

"Iggly?" inquired the Igglybuff. Personally she preferred bouncing to singing. It was really fun. However, she had to be careful not to bump into any of the other baby Pokemon. She wanted to be respectful.

Another Pokemon at the daycare happened to resemble Pikachu. However, it had black fur as well as yellow fur.

"Pichu!" exclaimed the young electric mouse Pokémon. He was happily munching on a tomato.

Some sparks came out of his cheeks. They were red just like a Pikachu's.

Lucy scanned him with her Pokedex.

"Pichu, the Tiny Mouse Pokemon. Unlike its evolution, it is not skilled at storing electricity and may let out an electric discharge when startled." said Lucy.

It would probably be best not to scare the baby Pokemon. Fortunately, none of the Pokemon at the daycare looked particularly scary. It seemed that there weren't ghost Pokemon at the daycare today.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Pichu is the preevolution of Pikachu." noted Jake.

Pichu nodded. Once he grew up to be a Pikachu, he would search for a Thunderstone so he could become a Raichu. Then he would have some mighty electric power.

Would they have happened to have heard of the Pichu Brothers by any chance? They happened to be quite popular. They made a lot of friends.

The next Pokemon in the daycare was a Magby.

"Magby! Magby Magby!" exclaimed Magby. It was hanging out near the fireplace. As a fire Pokemon it appreciated the heat.

Jake scanned it with his Pokedex.

"Magby, the Live Coal Pokemon. Typically found in volcanic craters, Magby can breathe fire at temperatures up to 1100 Celsius." explained Jake's Pokedex.

It looked this was the preevolution of Magmar.

"That's impressive. I bet its evolution can make hotter flames though." answered Jake.

"Magby!" exclaimed Magby. Evolution was something that he was looking forward to.

The next Pokemon they encountered was Elekid.

"Ele ele kid!" exclaimed the baby electric Pokemon. It was producing sparks.

"Anither baby electric Pokemon, eh?" questioned Jake.

Jake scanned Elekid with his Pokedex.

"Elekid, the Electric Pokémon. It can generate electricity by rotating its arms, but it doesn't tend to do this for long in order to avoid tuckering itself out." explained Jake's Pokedex.

Sure enough, Elekid was doing just that.

"I guess this is the preevolution of Electabuzz..." noted Lucy.

The next baby Pokémon looked a little girl. She seemed to enjoy kissing things.

"Smoochum! Smooch!" exclaimed the ice and psychic Pokemon, puckering her lips.

"I wonder why she loves kissing other Pokémon?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy decided to find out. The Pokedex could shed some light into that.

"Smoochum, the Kiss Pokémon. It uses its lips for examination. It also has a tendency to run about, but it ends up tripping." noted Lucy's Pokedex.

Sure enough, Smoochum ran around the daycare and tripped and fell on her face. Perhaps she should slow down a bit more. There was no need to be in a rush.

"Reminds me of Sarah..." remarked Jake. Maybe Sarah would catch an ice Pokémon someday. Of course, he wasn't sure at the moment where he could find ice Pokémon in Johto. Was there some sort of cold cavern somewhere?

It looked as if this Pokemon was the preevolution of Jynx. Didn't Chris have one of those? It would be useful against grass types.

The last Pokémon they encountered was a Tyrogue. There were also Togepi, like the one that Sarah was carrying with her. However, they were currently sleeping inside their eggshells.

Jake scanned him with his Pokedex.

"Tyrogue, the Scuffle Pokémon. It is small in size, but it has the tendency to pick fights." stated Jake's Pokedex.

It looked as if this baby Pokemon was fighting type.

Sure enough, Tyrogue was punching a punching bag. Apparently, the pokemon daycare people had told Tyrogue that picking fights with other baby Pokémon was wrong.

Still, Tyrogue WAS looking forward to being big and strong someday. Luckily, he was getting plenty of experience at the daycare while his Pokémon trainer was away.

Apparently, there were three Pokemon that Tyrogue could evolve into. One of them was Hitmonlee while another was Hitmonchan. The last one was Hitmontop. Surprisingly, the karate master didn't have one of those.

Now that they checked out the Pokémon daycare, it was time to head to Goldenrod City. There was probably a lot that they could do there.

As it turned out, Chris and Ned were already on their way there.

"You sure got through that forest quickly..." noted Ned.

"I sure did. I heard there's a game corner there..." answered Chris. Maybe if they were lucky they would be able to win some prizes. There were some technical machines that their Pokémon could most likely use.

"Didn't the last game corner we went to have a criminal organization running it?" inquired the boy. He sure hoped that he wasn't funding them.

"I'm sure if there is, we'll be able to handle them." stated the teenage girl.

"OK..." answered Ned.

Ned and Chris decided to head to the game corner to see if that was true.

However, there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. It looked as if this business was perfectly legal. It was a refreshing change of pace after they uncovered the Team Rocket Hideout.

"Huh. I guess there isn't a criminal organization running this casino..." answered Ned. Still, he was pretty sure that Team Shadow had a hideout somewhere. The only question was where.

"Although...who is running this casino?" inquired Chris.

"Just a friendly man named Mr. Luckypenny." answered one of the workers at the game corner. It seemed that someone had a thing for games.

"OK then..." answered the teenage girl. It looked like they would be able to get TMs and whatnot there.

Curious, Ned noticed a lady that bore some resemblance to Sarah. Was she her mother?

"Hello?" asked Ned.

"What? I'm busy collecting coins!" exclaimed the lady. She was saving up for a fantastic prize.

"She's a gambling addict..." noted Chris.

"You wouldn't happen to be Mrs. Ishikawa, would you?" asked Ned. They were well acquainted with her daughter at this point.

"Yes, I am." nodded Mrs. Ishikawa.

"Sheesh, this lady seems to spend more time at the slots than she does with her own child..." remarked Chris.

"She needs to get her priorities straight." noted Ned.

Speaking of Sarah, the two of them wondered where she was now. Hopefully she wasn't causing any trouble.

 _At the Pokemon_ _Radio_ _Tower_...

As it turned out, Sarah was not far from Chris and Ned. She was inside the Pokemon Radio Tower.

"So, this is where all the programs in Johto are broadcast?" inquired Sarah.

"Yes." nodded the clerk at the desk.

"Togepi!" exclaimed Sarah's Togepi. She wanted to listen to "Rock-A-Bye Baby Pokemon".

However, she could only go so far before she reached a dead end.

There was a black belt standing close to the stairs. He had received instructions not to let people visit the director in his office. Considering how buff the black belt was, it seemed that he was serious.

Apparently, the director wasn't the nicest man in the world.

"My apologies. For some strange reason the director hasn't been acting like himself lately. I'm not sure why. Although, I heard that he is a friend of Morgiana. Every now and then he goes to visit her at her mansion." stated the black belt.

"Interesting..." answered Sarah. How many friends did Morgiana have?

Apparently, the Pokemon Radio Tower was currently playing Pokemon Lullaby. Of course, if she wanted a lullaby she could always listen to Chris's Jigglypuff. Then again, chances are she would draw on her face if she fell asleep.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to try playing that song to her Togepi.

The day after that, they were going to play Pokemon March. Apparently, Pokemon really liked that song.

Not far from the Goldenrod Radio Tower was the Goldenrod Train Station.

Apparently, they could use it to go between Goldenrod City and Saffron City.

"All aboard!" exclaimed the engineer.

Several passengers were lining up to do just that. Apparently they were looking forward to paying Kanto a visit.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. Riding on that train sure seemed awfully fun. Did they have enough to buy a ticket?

However, Sarah decided that she should save venturing into Saffron City for later. She still had a distance to go before she reached the Team Shadow Hideout.

Besides, she heard rumors that the Saffron City Gym Leader liked trapping people inside a toy box. Apparently it was more fun turning Pokemon trainers into toys than it was battling them. Then again, that was probably a long time ago.

Now that she thought of it, did the Pokemon League ever find out that Sabrina was turning people into dolls?

That was something they would like to know about.

After visiting the Pokemon Radio Tower, she decided to go visit the bike shop. Hopefully it didn't cost $1,000,000 dollars because her mother had not won that kind of money from the Game Corner, though she had gotten quite a few coins over the years.

Fortunately, it turned out that they wanted to give one of their bikes a test run. Apparently, it could make their bike shop more popular.

"Hey there! Would you like a bike? Since our shop in Cerulean City was a success we decided to open up another bike shop in Goldenrod City. It's the biggest city in Johto so we figured it would be the perfect place." noted the bike shop owner.

Sarah nodded. That would be a good place to set up shop. Hopefully the bike store would be as popular in Johto as it was in Kanto.

There was also a Pokemon Gym, but she wasn't up for collecting a gym badge. Apparently, the Gym Leader was known for being pretty.

She decided to check out the flower shop. Then again, Totodile would probably eat the flowers.

Eh, he could probably control himself. Besides, Totodile seemed to prefer meat over vegetables.

"Let's go check out the pretty flowers, shall we?" asked Sarah.

Totodile nodded.

 _I hope you liked this chapter. I know that someone wants me to continue writing for this fanfic, so I suppose I shall. In unrelated news, they apparently decided to bring back Jigglypuff from the anime. It's nice to have her back. Although, I justified her disappearance by explaining that she was caught by Chris. Then again, maybe thst's not the same Jigglypuff. I don't know anymore._


	21. Chapter 21: A Plain Gym Battle

_Well, it looks like our heroes are going to face Whitney today. As you know, her Miltank is pretty strong. You think our heroes can take her on? Well, Sarah won't. She's not collecting Gym Badges. She is collecting Pokemon though._

 _We'll be checking on her shortly._

 **Chapter 21: A Plain Gym Battle**

"This is a nice flower shop you have here." stated Sarah.

"I've been working hard on it." answered the gardener.

Judging from all the flowers that were in the flower shop, her efforts had paid off.

Curious, she noticed that she was watering the plants using a watering can.

"You don't suppose you could try that in order to train yourself, would you, Totodile?" inquired Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. That was an interesting idea. He was willing to try that out.

He decided to go outside and water some plants.

Some flowers began to sprout.

"You feel stronger, Totodile?" inquired Sarah.

Totodile nodded. Hopefully he could level up some.

"I guess we'll keep doing that." stated the girl.

Totodile nodded again.

They decided to look for more plants.

Of course, some of them might be grass Pokemon, and Totodile shouldn't be picking fights with those.

Still, she had Pineco, so she would probably be safe if they did aggravate a grass Pokemon.

 _Elsewhere..._

Quickly, Lucy and Jake noticed that there was a Pokemon Gym nearby.

Apparently, the Gym Leader was Whitney, and she was incredibly pretty.

Of course, some people said the same thing about Lucy. However, she was more than just a pretty face. She was pretty strong. Or maybe pretty and strong.

Lucy and Jake entered the gym. The question was who should go first.

Jake decided to go with ladies' first. Besides, Lucy was younger.

"So, you're here to battle me? Good. I've been looking forward to a Gym Battle!" exclaimed Whitney.

"So have I...it hasn't been a long time since my previous Gym Battle though." answered Lucy. It was just yesterday that they had fought against Bugsy.

"Clefairy, I choose you!" shouted the farm girl.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

Lucy's Clefairy noticed that the two of them looked similar.

This might cause problems with the referee.

Still, she might as well send out her Clefairy. She was pretty strong so it would be a shame not to use her in the Gym Battle.

"Go get 'em, Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded.

Whitney's Clefairy started off by using Metronome.

However, all she did was end up making a splash.

"Clefairy! Clefairy!" exclaimed Whitney's Clefairy, splashing water all over the gym.

Lucy's Clefairy decided to use Metronome too.

However, she ended up using Hydro Pump instead of using a move that was totally useless.

It was a direct hit.

Whitney's Clefairy fainted instantly.

"Which Clefairy fainted?" inquired the referee. He was confused.

Lucy's Clefairy returned back to her trainer.

"Oh! Now I get it! It looks like your Clefairy is the winner, Miss Lucy." said the referee. One more Pokemon and she would win the Plain Badge.

"Darn! I wish that my Clefairy was that strong! Then again judging from the fact that she's always on your back maybe she was your starter Pokemon. Mine was a Miltank." answered Whitney.

"Is that going to be your next Pokemon?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes, I try to keep my Pokemon battles brief." said the girl. She typically only used two Pokemon at the most.

"I see..." nodded the girl.

Whitney sent out her Miltank.

"Mooooo!" exclaimed Miltank.

"Holy Miltank! That's one strong Miltank!" shouted Lucy.

"Miltank, the Milk Cow Pokemon. They say that children drink its milk become strong, healthy adults." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"I should try its milk sometime." remarked the girl.

"Miltank, use Rollout!" instructed Whitney.

Miltank nodded.

Miltank began to roll towards Lucy's Clefairy.

Clefairy tried using Metronome again.

It ended up using Rollout itself.

But unfortunately for Clefairy, she was up against a Pokemon that was bigger and stronger.

Clefairy bounced off of Miltank and fell to the ground.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. That didn't turn out too well.

Miltank then stomped the smaller Pokemon with her foot.

Clefairy fainted.

"Oh no! Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy returned to her Pokemon trainer.

Now Whitney and Lucy were both down to their last Pokemon.

She decided to try out her Chikorita.

"Chikorita!" exclaimed Chikorita.

She instructed Chikorita to use Razor Leaf.

Chikorita nodded and hit Whitney's Miltank with Razor Leaf.

That seemed to be effective.

However, Whitney had Whitney's Miltank use Milk Drink.

An icy cold beverage of milk appeared.

Whitney's Miltank guzzled it down and then she was feeling fine.

"Aw man! How are we going to get past Miltank's healing?" asked Lucy.

Lucy's Chikorita noted that WAS a problem.

Still, she wouldn't want to disappoint her trainer.

She decided to use Vine Whip.

However, Whitney's Miltank grabbed onto the vines.

She then hurled Chikorita into a nearby wall.

Chikorita fainted.

"Aw, man!" exclaimed Lucy. It looked like she wasn't going to be winning the Plain Badge.

Well, she was going to have try again later. She still had time before the Silver Conference began anyway.

After Whitney healed her Pokemon and Lucy went to the Pokemon Center, Jake decided to challenge Whitney.

Whitney sent out her Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Whitney's Jigglypuff.

Jake sent out Cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil!" exclaimed Jake's Cyndaquil.

"Be careful! Knowing Chris's Jigglypuff Whitney will try to have her Jigglypuff put you to sleep. If you go to sleep you'll be a sitting Psyduck! And you're not even a water type so try not to be one of those..." said Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded. Of course, Jake probably wouldn't send him out against a Psyduck on account of the type advantage.

When Whitney's Jigglypuff began to sing, Cyndaquil covered his ears.

Jigglypuff frowned with disappointment.

She decided to use Attract.

"Uh-oh! Cyndaquil, cover your eyes!" exclaimed Jake.

"Cyndaquil?" inquired the fire Pokemon. He was still covering his ears.

All of a sudden, Cyndaquil noticed that Jigglypuff was rather...cute.

He wondered if he should fighting a balloon Pokemon.

However, Jake reminded him what they were here for.

"This is no time to be admiring cute Pokemon! We're in a Gym Battle!" exclaimed Jake.

Cyndaquil realized his mistake.

He then hit Jigglypuff with Ember.

Jigglypuff fainted.

"Darn, for a moment I thought I had your Cyndaquil...but I guess not." answered Whitney.

"You probably would have if I hadn't reminded Cyndaquil that he was in the middle of a fight." stated Jake.

"Now it's time for me to send out Miltank." said Whitney.

"Yes...I've already seen her in action." answered Jake. She seemed to be pretty strong judging from Whitney's fight with Lucy.

"Miltank!" exclaimed Whitney's Miltank as she appeared from Whitney's Pokeball.

"Cyndaquil, use Smokescreen!" instructed Jake.

Cyndaquil nodded and prepared to bombard Whitney's Miltank with smoke.

But before he could do that, Whitney hit Cyndaquil with Attract.

"Cyndaquil..." said the fire Pokemon.

"Not again!" exclaimed Jake.

Whitney's Miltank stomped Cyndaquil and he passed out on the ground.

Well, it was time to use another Pokemon. Maybe his Grimer could do the job.

Jake withdrew Cyndaquil and sent out Grimer.

"Grimer!" exclaimed Jake's Grimer.

Now that Grimer on the battlefield, he decided to see what Miltank would do next.

She decided to use Rollout.

Grimer quickly ran away from Miltank. It wouldn't be fun if she ran over him.

In the process, he left behind a trail of sludge.

"Darn it! I'm going to have to mop later!" complained Whitney.

The referee went to get a mop.

However, when Whitney's Miltank ran over the sludge, she began to spin around wildly.

Miltank stopped rolling around and started to feel dizzy.

Grimer then hurled Sludge at Miltank.

"Miltank!" exclaimed Whitney's Miltank.

"That's no good..." said Whitney.

Luckily, Miltank was not poisoned.

Whitney then followed by having Miltank Stomp Grimer.

However, he transformed into a puddle of sludge.

Miltank ended up slipping and falling.

Grimer then tackled Miltank.

"Miltank!" exclaimed Whitney's Miltank.

Quickly, Whitney had Whitney's Miltank use Milk Drink.

However, Grimer put sludge into the drink before she could consume the milk.

When Miltank tried to drink it, she ended up being poisoned...badly.

Miltank fainted shortly afterwards.

Whitney sighed. It looked like she wasn't winning this time.

At least she had fun.

"Here's your gym badge." said Whitney.

Jake smiled as he collected his gym badge.

Well, now all that was left to do was wait for Lucy to collect her Plain Badge. Hopefully her rematch would turn out better.

Although, maybe he could train his Pokemon some more.

It would help him against the next Gym Leader.

Now...where was a good training spot?

Shortly after Jake's battle with Whitney, Chris and Ned entered the gym.

"Hello!" exclaimed Whitney.

"Another Gym Leader already? I'm feeling satisfied!" shouted Chris.

"Don't forget, I'm going next!" exclaimed Ned.

Chris nodded.

For her first Pokemon, Whitney sent out Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Whitney's Jigglypuff.

Chris sent out her own Jigglypuff.

Once again, Whitney noted that she was seeing double.

The only question was which Pokemon was stronger.

They were about to find out.

Whitney's Jigglypuff tried to use Sing, but Chris's Jigglypuff beat her to the punch.

"Beaten at my own game..." thought Whitney.

Whitney's Jigglypuff fell asleep.

"Well, Jigglypuff, it looks like your fellow balloon Pokemon is asleep...why don't you wake her up by slapping her in the face?" asked Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded and used Doubleslap on Whitney's Jigglypuff.

This woke up Whitney's Jigglypuff, but she was now dizzy.

"Jigglypuff..." murmured Whitney's Pokemon.

Chris's Jigglypuff then hit Whitney's Jigglypuff with Rollout.

Whitney's Jigglypuff fainted.

Whitney sighed and withdrew her fainted Pokemon.

It was time to send out Miltank.

Maybe she could do the job.

"Miltank!" exclaimed the cow Pokemon.

Miltank decided to use her own Rollout.

Chris's Jigglypuff was sent flying.

"That's no good..." remarked Chris.

Fortunately, since Jigglypuff was known as the balloon Pokemon, she didn't hurt herself when she landed on the ground.

She helped herself to her feet.

"Hang in there!" exclaimed her Pokemon trainer.

Jigglypuff nodded.

Whitney's Miltank continued rolling towards Jigglypuff.

Chris instructed Jigglypuff to use Body Slam.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so and slammed into Miltank.

Miltank stopped rolling.

However, she proceeded to stomp on Jigglypuff, causing her to deflate.

"Dang it!" exclaimed Chris.

Well, Jigglypuff wasn't able to battle anymore, that was for sure.

She withdrew Jigglypuff and sent out Houndour.

"Houndour!" exclaimed Chris's Houndour.

Whitney had Miltank use Stomp again.

However, Houndour bit into Miltank's leg.

"Miltank!" exclaimed the cow Pokemon. Houndour's fangs were surprisingly sharp.

"Oh no! Miltank!" shouted Whitney.

Houndour then followed by using Ember on Miltank.

Miltank was burned.

"Miltank..." murmured the cow Pokemon. She wasn't feeling so well.

Whitney decided to have Miltank use Attract.

However, Houndour wasn't interested in Miltank.

Houndour used Bite again and Miltank fainted.

"Miltank..." murmured the fainted Pokemon.

"Yes! In your face!" exclaimed Chris.

Whitney started to cry.

"What's the matter?" asked Ned.

"I'm afraid that Whitney doesn't take losing well sometimes..." answered the referee. It wasn't like her gym had exploded.

Ned comforted Whitney.

"It's OK...you'll do better next time." stated Ned.

Whitney stopped crying.

"Well, I suppose you earned this." answered the farm girl.

Whitney gave Chris a Plain Badge.

She also gave Ned a Plain Badge as well.

"Huh?" asked Ned.

"I really needed that." answered Whitney.

Ned shrugged and walked out of the gym along with Chris.

Now that they had their third gym badge, it was time to look for another Pokemon Gym.

According to the Johto Travel Guide, there was another one in Ecruteak City.

Apparently, there was also an enormous tower there. There was also another one, but that had been burned down.

Either way, it seemed rather interesting. Perhaps they could check out those places before they went to the gym.

 _With this chapter Lucy is the only one that hasn't gotten their gym badge yet. Rest assured that she'll be getting it in due time. For now I hope that you've been enjoying this fanfic._


	22. Chapter 22: Don't Have A Miltank

_In this chapter, Lucy is going to train her Pokemon so that she'll have an easier time against Whitney. She's going to head to the National Park. It's rather lovely. Also, she's going to catch a grass Pokemon._

 _Also, Sarah is going to catch a new Pokemon as well. It's not the type of Pokemon that you think it is!_

 _Chris and Ned are also going to enter the bug catching contest._

 _In other news, I'm having fun using Pokemon in expressions. Heh heh._

 **Chapter 21: Don't Have A Miltank**

Lucy went to the National Park in order to train her Pokemon. It sure was a nice place to relax.

Hopefully when she challenged Miltank to a rematch she'll be able to win this time.

She noticed that a Pokemon that was rather cute. Perhaps she'd try catching that Pokemon instead of simply fainting it.

Sunkern noticed her.

"Sunkern?" inquired the grass Pokemon.

Lucy scanned Sunkern with her Pokedex.

"Sunkern, the Seed Pokemon. The only thing that it ever eats is dewdrops." said Lucy's Pokedex.

"Sunkern!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

This Sunkern was a girl.

"She sure is on a diet, isn't she?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded. Personally she was open to a variety of foods...though she did like sweets.

Fortunately, it seemed that Sunkern didn't move around too much, so she didn't have to worry about her running away. It was kind of like the Pineco that Sarah had caught earlier.

If she tossed a Pokeball at it, she probably wouldn't put up a struggle.

She decided to give it a test run.

"Pokeball go!" exclaimed Lucy.

Sure enough, Sunkern didn't put up much of a struggle.

Perhaps she found the idea of being inside a Pokeball to be relaxing. That way the flying Pokemon would leave her alone.

There was a ding, indicating that Sunkern had been caught.

She then sent out her new grass Pokemon.

"Alright! But how am I going to use you against the gym leader?" asked Lucy.

Sunkern wasn't sure. Maybe if she evolved into a Sunflora then she could help.

However, Lucy did not appear to have a Sun Stone. It looked like she wouldn't be evolving just yet.

Still, Lucy's Pokemon seemed stronger after their training session. Apparently, training her Pokemon had been worth it.

Maybe it would be worth it to challenge the Gym leader again to see how much stronger they had become.

However, it would probably be best to think of a strategy to deal with Whitney. That Miltank was the biggest threat, that was for sure.

Well, it was time to head back to the gym.

Whitney was waiting for her in there.

"Are you ready for our rematch?" asked Whitney.

Lucy nodded. Her Pokemon were looking forward to battling her again. Her Clefairy had a wide smile on her face.

"Alright then, I choose Clefairy!" exclaimed the Gym Leader.

Whitney sent out Clefairy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Whitney's Clefairy.

Lucy responded by sending out her Chikorita.

"Chikorita!" exclaimed Lucy's Chikorita.

Whitney instructed her Clefairy to use Doubleslap.

Clefairy slapped Chikorita in the face.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

However, this made Chikorita annoyed and she hit Clefairy with Razor Leaf.

It was a critical hit.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Whitney's Clefairy.

Whitney noted that things weren't looking good for her Pokemon. If this kept up, she was going to lose the battle. At least her opponent wouldn't be disappointed.

She decided to have Clefairy give Chikorita a taste of her own medicine using Mimic.

She picked up some leaves and tossed them at Chikorita.

However, Chikorita was fast enough to avoid them.

She then hit Clefairy with Vine Whip and she fainted.

"Clefairy..." murmured the fainted fairy Pokemon. She now had swirls in her eyes, as if she had been hypnotized.

That Chikorita was simply too strong. And to think she wasn't a Bayleef yet.

"Well, at least you tried." said Whitney.

"Not bad, Chikorita!" exclaimed Lucy. This seemed to be going better than before.

However, she still had Miltank to deal with.

Whitney withdrew her fainted Clefairy and sent out Miltank.

"Miltank!" exclaimed Whitney's Miltank.

Whitney instructed her Miltank to use Stomp.

Miltank nodded and attempted to stomp on Chikorita's big head.

However, Chikorita grabbed onto Miltank's foot using vines to prevent her from doing so.

She then made Miltank collapse on the ground.

"Razor Leaf!" instructed Lucy.

Seizing her opportunity, Chikorita hit Miltank with several Razor Leaves.

"Miltank..." murmured the Pokemon. That really knocked the breath out of her.

However, Miltank managed to hit Chikorita with Rollout, and she fainted.

"Chikorita..." murmured the grass Pokemon. How did Miltank get to be so strong?

Oh wait. It was probably because she was always drinking her milk. It WAS pretty good for you.

She withdrew Chikorita and sent out her Clefairy.

"Clefairy!" shouted Lucy's Clefairy.

Whitney instructed Miltank to use Attract.

However, Lucy's Clefairy was not attracted to Miltank. Apparently, cattle Pokemon weren't her type. The milk Miltank produced certainly was nutritious though.

Although...she found Ned's Raichu to be fairly attractive. He was big and strong.

Clefairy then hit Whitney's Miltank with Meteor Mash.

Whitney's Miltank felt like she had been struck by a meteor.

"Miltank..." said Whitney's Miltank. Despite being fairly small, Clefairy was pretty strong. She could probably take down Pokemon that were many times her size.

Apparently, it was time for Whitney to heal her Pokemon so she didn't faint.

She instructed Miltank to use Milk Drink.

However, before she could drink it, she found that Clefairy had stolen it.

"Miltank?" asked Whitney's Miltank.

"I guess your kleptomania came in handy this time..." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy.

Clefairy gulped down the milk and enjoyed the delicious beverage. She felt like she earned it, though admittedly the gym battle wasn't over yet.

"Oh no..." murmured Whitney. Now how was she going to heal her Pokemon.

Lucy's Clefairy then finished Whitney's Miltank off with Metronome...which turned into Karate Chop.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Maybe she should visit the dojo in Kanto again.

"You've gotten stronger since our last encounter haven't you? I'm impressed! You can have your gym badge now." stated Whitney.

Lucy smiled and collected the Plain Badge.

 _Meanwhile at Route 36..._

So far, having Totodile water plants was working out fairly well.

Eventually, they came across a rather strange-looking tree.

"Isn't that an unusual tree..." noted Sarah.

Totodile nodded.

Well, he decided to squirt water at it.

"Sudowoodo!" exclaimed the disguised Pokemon, who was now dripping with water.

"Whoa!" shouted Sarah.

Sarah fell down.

"Sudowoodo, the Imitation Pokemon. It pretends to be a tree, but in reality its body is similar to a rock!" exclaimed Sarah's Pokedex.

"That's really interesting..." answered Sarah. Sudowoodo certainly did look like a grass type. But apparently, it was actually a rock type.

According to the Pokedex, this Sudowoodo was male.

The Sudowoodo pounded his branches together. It looked like he was angry.

"I think it wants to fight us...hit him again, Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah.

Sudowoodo noted that maybe he didn't think things through.

Totodile hit Sudowoodo again.

The imitation Pokemon pulled out a white flag.

"What's that? You're surrendering? Alright then. What should we do with you?" asked Sarah.

She then noticed that her Totodile was gnawing on a Great Ball.

"Poke ball go!" exclaimed Sarah.

Sudowoodo went inside the Great Ball without a struggle.

"That was an interesting Pokemon...maybe I should try it out." questioned the girl.

Totodile nodded.

Sarah sent out her new Pokemon.

"Sudowoodo!" exclaimed the Pokemon that wasn't a plant.

"So...why were you pretending to be a tree?" asked Sarah. It seemed an odd thing for a rock type to do. Her Totodile certainly didn't act like a fire type.

"Woodo!" explained Sudowoodo. Apparently, since there were so many grass Pokemon around, he figured that would blend in by pretending to be a grass type.

"I don't know, have you ever thought about being the rock Pokemon you are?" inquired Sarah.

Sudowoodo hadn't thought of that.

Perhaps he should act like a rock type instead of a grass type.

Well, he was going to be traveling with Sarah from now on so perhaps he should just be himself.

Besides, he'd do better against fire types than a grass type would.

Perhaps he could hang out with his fellow rock types instead of trying to blend in with grass type Pokemon for a change.

 _Back in Goldenrod City..._

"Did you get the Plain Badge?" asked Jake.

Lucy nodded.

Jake applauded Lucy.

"Well then, I guess we're ready to head to Ecruteak City now." answered the boy. He heard that Mahogany Town and Olivine City were nearby, both of which had gyms, so it looked like they would be gathering gym badges quickly.

However, Cianwood City was all the way across the sea. It would take some time in order to get there.

"I heard that there's a legendary Pokemon there..." stated Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. You don't get to meet one of those every day.

Apparently, the legendary Pokemon nested on top of a tin tower.

There was also another tower, but apparently the legendary Pokemon had burned it down.

This was where three more legendary Pokemon resided.

How many legendary Pokemon were in Ecruteak City anyway?

Perhaps they should go visit the burned tower before they went to battle the gym leader.

Together, the two of them set out towards the city.

On the way there, they noticed that the tree blocking their way between Goldenrod City and Violet City was now gone.

"What happened to the tree?" asked Lucy.

Jake shrugged. He didn't know the answer himself.

However, it seemed that they now had a way to get through.

Perhaps it would be best not to dwell on it.

 _In Ecruteak City..._

As soon as Sarah entered Ecruteak City, she noticed that there were several Team Shadow Grunts nearby.

Once again, they were up to no good.

"Hi everyone!" exclaimed Sarah.

Leading them was another Team Shadow Executive.

Her name was Violet, and she had long purple hair. She also had purple eyes as well. She was rather tall. Disguises were her speciality.

"Our leader requested that we steal the Rainbow Wing from the Tin Tower...something like that would be worth a fortune, especially given it's revelation to Ho-Oh the Legendary Phoenix!" exclaimed Violet.

The Team Shadow Grunts concurred in agreement. This was going to be quite the heist.

Togepi started to shiver. Sarah was hanging out with a bad crowd.

At least she seemed to be affable. Otherwise she would start to feel sick.

"I guess we'll start looking in that burned tower over there." said one of the Team Shadow Grunts.

"I'll be searching the Tin Tower..." stated Violet.

Curious, she noticed that there seemed to be some monks standing guard.

They wouldn't let anyone in without the Fog Badge.

However, Violet put on a disguise and she looked just like one of the monks.

"Can I enter?" asked Violet.

The monks nodded and let Violet inside.

Violet chuckled. They didn't suspect a thing.

 _At the National Park..._

"It says here that they're having a bug catching contest..." said Ned.

"Oh really?" asked Chris.

"Yeah...the grand prize is a Sun Stone...that ought to be useful if we want to evolve a certain Pokemon..." remarked the boy.

Chris shrugged. She knew how she could win that contest. Just catch the biggest and strongest bug Pokemon she could find.

However, she noticed that Jerry was competing as well.

"Hello Jerry." said Chris sarcastically.

"I'm going to cream everyone at the contest!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Sure you are." answered the teenage girl.

Aside from Chris and Ned, two other Pokemon trainers had entered the contest. They were of course, bug catchers.

Immediately, the bug catcher in charge of the contest gave them Sports Balls.

Quickly, they went to search for bug Pokemon.

Chris noticed a Scyther was nearby.

"Scyther!" exclaimed Chris's Scyther.

She tossed a Sports Ball at the Scyther.

There was a ding and the Scyther was caught.

"Yes!" exclaimed Chris.

Considering Scythers were strong bug types, chances are she would do well in the competition.

Ned had caught a Butterfree.

A short while later, the contest was over and it was time to judge their Pokemon.

"Look what I caught! It's the bug Pokemon ever!" exclaimed Jerry.

As it turned out, Jerry had caught a Caterpie.

"Really, Jerry?" asked Chris.

"It's going to win first place for sure!" exclaimed Jerry.

As it turned out, Jerry had gotten last place.

"This contest is rigged!" shouted the boy.

"Sure it is." answered Chris.

The two bug catchers had caught a Kakuna and a Metapod.

They were tied for third place.

Ned had scored second place.

"Not bad!" exclaimed Ned.

This of course meant that Chris had scored first place.

"Ha! I knew I would win!" shouted Chris.

"What? How did she win?! She's totally lame!" exclaimed Jerry.

Chris rolled her eyes.

In addition to their prizes, they were allowed to keep the bug Pokemon that they had caught as an added bonus.

Chris smirked. Scyther was going to come in handy.

Jerry moped. What was he going to do with his Caterpie? Now that he thought of it, maybe Caterpie wasn't such a valuable Pokemon after all.

Ned figured maybe his Butterfree would come in handy.

Well, now it was time to head to Ecruteak City. If they could beat the Gym Leader there, they'd be halfway to the Pokemon League.

 _Lucy has her Plain Badge and Sarah has caught Sudowoodo...I figure this would be a good Pokemon for Sarah...now it's time to head to Ecruteak City so that they can collect the Fog Badge._

 _They're going to need brave Pokemon if they want to fight Morty._

 _In other news, it seems that Team Shadow is up to no good again. This doesn't bode well._


	23. Chapter 23: A Historical City

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to head towards Ecruteak City. You probably know this already, but that's where the fourth gym is. It's not a long distance between the third and the fourth, am I right?_

 **Chapter 23: A Historical City**

"So...this is where the next gym is..." stated Lucy.

"Looks that way." nodded Jake.

Curious, they noticed that there were two towers in the city. One of them had been burned down, but the other was completely intact.

"I wonder what happened to the one on the left..." questioned the rich girl.

"Beats me." answered the boy.

Curious, they decided to take a closer look.

They encountered a monk.

"Do you know what happened here?" asked Lucy.

"Ah yes...I'm afraid that Ho-Oh went berserk and destroyed this tower..." explained the monk.

"Oh my." answered Jake.

Perhaps Ho-Oh was displeased with one of their offerings. It was hard to judge.

Lucy looked up Ho-Oh with her Pokedex.

"Ho-Oh, the Rainbow Pokemon. Wherever it flies, a rainbow follows. Its body glows in all sorts of different colors." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"Fortunately, nobody was inside the tower when Ho-Oh raged, except for three Pokemon." answered the monk.

"Those poor Pokemon." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy..." said Lucy's Clefairy. This sounded like a sad tale.

"Fortunately, they were resurrected by Ho-Oh, and became the three legendary beasts. Speaking of which, they're at the tower right now." answered the monk.

"Really?" asked Lucy.

The monk nodded.

Lucy and Jake quickly went to investigate.

Sure enough, there they were.

Apparently, each of the legendary beasts were of a different type, based on their coloring.

Jake scanned the three of them with his Pokedex.

"Raikou, the Thunder Pokemon. The rain clouds it carries allows it to fire thunderbolts at will. It races around the land, and its cry sounds like thunder."

"Entei, the Volcano Pokemon. Whenever it barks, volcanos erupt. This Pokemon races across the land."

"Suicune, the Aurora Pokemon. This Pokemon can instantly purify filthy, murky water. It races across the land, and whenever it appears, it will become windy."

"Seems none of the three like to hold still for too long." answered Jake.

Well, they better savor this opportunity while it lasts.

Jake and Lucy started taking pictures.

Those were certainly going in their scrapbooks. It's not every day that you got to meet a legendary Pokemon.

Of course, they had already encountered the three legendary birds.

After they were finished taking pictures of these one-of-the-kind Pokemon, they wondered where they should go next.

Apparently, there was a theater where you could watch the kimono girls perform.

As it turned out, Sarah was doing just that.

With her were her Togepi and her Totodile.

"They sure dance pretty well, don't they?" asked Sarah.

Totodile nodded.

Suddenly, she noticed that there was a Togepi dancing onstage.

"That Togepi dances pretty well, doesn't she?" inquired the girl.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. She certainly did.

"Maybe you could learn to dance like her, can't you, Togepi?" asked Sarah.

Suddenly, she noticed Togepi was missing from her seat.

"Huh?" inquired the young girl.

It was at that very moment she realized what was going on.

"Totodile, I thought you were watching over her!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. He thought she was.

Sarah sighed.

"Well, one of us is going to have to go get her. Not it!" shouted Sarah.

Totodile frowned. It looked like he had lost.

Immediately, he went to pick up Togepi, who was still dancing.

At that very moment, Togepi noticed Totodile.

Sarah's Togepi smiled and grabbed Totodile's hands.

"Totodile?" asked Sarah's Totodile.

She then started dancing with Totodile.

"It looks like I'm going to have to go over there..." noted Sarah.

Immediately, Sarah began to walk onstage.

"Alright, that's enough dancing for you t-"

Suddenly, Totodile and Togepi grabbed Sarah's arms.

"Huh?" asked Sarah.

As it turned out, Togepi had successfully persuaded Totodile to dance onstage.

Sarah was confused at first, but she decided why not dance with them?

And so she danced.

Outside the theater, Jake and Lucy decided to split for the time being.

"I'm going to the theater to watch the Kimono Girls...how about you?" stated Jake.

"I think I'll stay outside and admire the Pokemon wildlife..." answered Lucy. There certainly was going to be a lot to see.

Jake nodded.

Lucy went to Route 38.

Curious, she noticed that there was a sign that was pointing to where the farm was.

Lucy decided that would be interesting.

Apparently, that was where the Moomoo Milk that was so popular around Johto was coming from.

She decided to check out the Moomoo Farm.

Sure enough, there were several Miltank grazing on grass.

"Mooooooo!" exclaimed one of the Miltanks. The grass certainly was delicious.

"They sure have a lot of Miltanks." noted Lucy.

Clefairy nodded in agreement.

Now that she thought of it, didn't Whitney use a Miltank in her battles? It was a pretty decent fighter. She had already fought it twice.

Suddenly, she noticed that someone was doing something very naughty.

As it turned out, that person was Jerry, and he was Miltanktipping.

"Hahaha!" laughed Jerry as he tipped over one of the Miltanks.

"Moooooo!" exclaimed the startled Miltank.

"What are you doing? You'll scare the Miltanks and they won't be able to produce milk!" shouted Lucy.

"But it's fun!" shouted Jerry.

Jerry tipped over another Miltank.

Lucy sighed.

It looked like she was going to have to stop him. It seemed likely if she managed to defeat him at a Pokemon battle that he would leave.

The only question was which Pokemon she was going to send out first.

She settled on her Mareep. It seemed appropriate since she was at a farm.

Of course, people didn't usually shear Mareep for wool without wearing rubber gloves. That way they didn't end up zapping themselves like the Pokedex had warned about.

"Mareep, it's your turn!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Mareep!" shouted Lucy's Mareep.

"Using an electric type? Good! I've been looking forward to using my new Pokemon!" shouted Jerry. He had found it gliding from tree to tree.

Jerry sent out his Gligar.

"Gligar!" exclaimed the ground Pokemon.

"Gligar, the Fly Scorpion Pokemon. After flying at its target face, it clamps down on the startled victim and injects poison." said Lucy's Pokedex.

This Pokemon DID sound rather scary. And to make matters worse, it was poisonous. Being poisoned could really wear down a Pokemon's HP.

"A ground Pokemon? That's not good." stated Lucy. Electric attacks weren't going to have any effect.

"Mareep..." said the electric Pokemon. She wasn't liking her chances here...even if Gligar WAS part flying type on account of its gliding habits.

Perhaps it would be best if she switched the Pokemon she was using.

Lucy switched out her Mareep and sent out her Poliwag.

"Poliwag!" exclaimed Lucy's Poliwag.

Since she was a water type, she would stand a better chance against a ground type like Gligar.

"Ha! Looks like I get to attack first!" shouted Jerry.

Sure enough, Gligar got ready to do just that.

Unsurprisingly, it attempted to jab Poliwag with his stinger.

However, Poliwag moved out of the way and splashed Gligar with water.

"Gligar!" exclaimed the fly scorpion Pokemon. Unfortunately, he happened to be part ground type, so water was effective against him. At least he wasn't getting hit by an ice attack. That would be REALLY bad for him.

Lucy's Poliwag smiled. It looked like she had an advantage against her opponent. She enjoyed fighting fire types and rock types for this very reason.

"It might be best if you switch Pokemon..." noted Lucy.

Clefairy nodded in agreement.

"Nonsense! My Gligar can beat your Poliwag easy!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Gligar..." said Jerry's Gligar. He wasn't sure if that was the case.

"Alright then." answered the girl.

Lucy's Clefairy wondered what was going through Jerry's head. Other than him harassing the local cattle Pokemon.

"Get her, Gligar!" shouted the boy.

Gligar nodded, and lunged at Poliwag with Quick Attack.

However, Gligar ended up bouncing off of Poliwag's belly.

Gligar crashed into a nearby Miltank.

Fortunately for the Miltank, she was fine.

Unfortunately for Gligar, he had fainted.

"Dang it!" exclaimed Jerry.

The Miltank wondered what was going on.

She then realized that there were two Pokemon trainers facing each other.

She decided to watch the battle to see how it would turn out.

Jerry sighed and withdrew his fainted Gligar.

This time, he was going to send out his Qwilfish.

"Go, Qwilfish!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Qwilfish!" shouted the spiky Pokemon.

"Well, it looks like now it's time for Mareep to shine." stated Lucy.

However, when she sent out Mareep, she ended up sending another Pokemon out instead.

"Flaaffy!" exclaimed Lucy's new Pokemon.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

It looked like it was time for Lucy to scan her new Pokemon.

She decided to do just that.

"Flaaffy, the Wool Pokemon. It has rubbery, electricity-resistant skin, allowing it to store lots of electricity in its fur." said Lucy's Pokedex.

"Wait...Mareep, is that you?" asked Lucy.

Mareep nodded. Of course, she was a Flaaffy now.

"Why'd you evolve?" inquired the girl.

"Flaaffy." said Lucy's Flaaffy. Jerry was getting on her nerves, so she figured, why not evolve in order to teach him a lesson? Besides, she was looking forward to the increased electrical power, even if she no longer had nearly as much wool in order to keep her warm in the cold.

"Oh...well, I do agree with you. He isn't a good person." noted Lucy.

"Flaaffy!" exclaimed Lucy's Flaaffy. She was glad that she was Lucy's Pokemon instead of him.

"Anyways...try zapping Qwilfish with electricity!" shouted the girl.

Since Qwilfish was covered in quills, getting close would be a bad idea. So, it would be better to attack from a distance.

Flaaffy nodded and zapped Qwilfish with electricity.

"Qwilfish!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

"Come on! Don't tell me you're losing to a farm Pokemon!" shouted Jerry.

The nearby Miltank took offense to that.

"Try stinging her with poison!" exclaimed Jerry.

Jerry's Qwilfish nodded.

Unfortunately for Flaaffy, having a rubbery body did not protect you from having a quill pierce your skin.

"Huh? That was actually a smart move...using something sharp to get past Flaaffy's rubbery body..." noted Lucy.

"Really? I feel weird...I usually wing things." noted Jerry.

Flaaffy was poisoned.

However, Flaaffy zapped Qwilfish in retaliation.

Qwilfish fainted.

"Not again!" exclaimed Jerry.

Since Qwilfish was down for the count, Jerry decided to send out one more Pokemon as he withdrew his fainted balloon Pokemon.

"Go, Croconaw!" shouted the boy.

As it turned out, Jerry had evolved his Totodile.

"Croconaw!" exclaimed Jerry's evolved Pokemon.

Lucy scanned Croconaw with her Pokedex.

"Croconaw, the Big Jaw Pokemon. It always has 48 fangs in its mouth. If it loses one another one will quickly regrow in its place." stated Lucy's Pokedex.

"Huh. It really does have a big jaw." noted Lucy.

Lucy decided to withdraw Flaaffy and send out Chikorita.

"Chikorita!" exclaimed Lucy's Chikorita.

"You think you can take him?" asked Lucy.

Chikorita nodded.

Lucy's Chikorita attacked first, launching razor leaves at Croconaw.

This aggravated Croconaw.

But unfortunately, Jerry decided instead of splashing Lucy's Chikorita with water (since she would resist it), he would have Croconaw bite Chikorita with his strong jaws.

CHOMP!

It was a critical hit.

"Hang in there, Chikorita!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Chikorita nodded. She aimed to please her trainer.

Speaking of pleasing her Pokemon trainer, that gave Chikorita an idea.

She decided to try evolving.

Lucy's Chikorita became Bayleef.

"Bayleef!" exclaimed Lucy's Bayleef.

"Alright! You did it!" shouted Lucy.

Bayleef smiled.

She didn't want to disappoint her Pokemon trainer.

Lucy scanned Bayleef with her Pokedex.

"Bayleef, the Leaf Pokemon. It has the scent of spices coming from its neck, and sniffing it makes you want to fight." stated Lucy's Pokedex.

Sure enough, Croconaw DID seem to want to fight.

Then again, maybe that was just the Pokemon that he was.

Croconaw lunged towards Bayleef.

However, Bayleef made Croconaw trip and fall with vines.

"Croconaw!" exclaimed the crocodile Pokemon.

Bayleef then hit Croconaw with Razor Leafes and he fainted.

"Noooo! I lost to a little girl!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Not just any little girl." said Lucy. She had gotten eight gym badges in Kanto and made it to the Indigo Conference.

"Grr...I'll be back!" shouted the boy.

With that, Jerry left the farm.

Suddenly, the Miltank from before approached her.

"Hmm?" asked Lucy.

"Miltank!" exclaimed the Miltank.

"What? You want to be my Pokemon? But I thought you were here so that you can make milk..." said the girl.

"Miltank." answered the cow Pokemon.

"You feel like you're destined for greater things? Alright, if you say so." nodded Lucy.

Lucy tossed a Pokeball at Miltank.

There was a ding, and Miltank was caught.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

At that very moment, Chris and Ned approached her.

"Did you take care of Jerry? I figured he was causing trouble again." asked Chris.

"Yeah...I think he'll probably be back though." answered Lucy.

"Fair enough." nodded Ned.

 _Meanwhile at the Ecruteak Dance Theater..._

Jake sat down on a seat, expecting to see the kimono girls perform onstage.

Instead, what he witnessed was none other than his acquaintance Sarah dancing instead.

"Huh?" asked Jake.

Dancing with her were her Togepi and Totodile.

"What is going on here?" thought Jake.

He was confused.

Perhaps the kimono girls could shed some light on the situation.

He decided to ask them.

"Can I ask what's going on here?" asked Jake.

"This girl stole the show from us." stated Zuki.

"I have to admit, she's pretty good." noted Naoto.

"I'll say." concurred Miki.

"I wish I could dance that well." remarked Sayo.

"Well, we did our best." answered Kuni.

"Wait, I thought Sarah was clumsy..." stated Jake.

Suddenly, Sarah fell off the stage and on top of Jake.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Oof!" bellowed Jake.

"Totodile!" shouted Sarah's Totodile. He was worried that would happen.

"Togepi?" asked Sarah's Togepi. Was she OK?

"Sorry! Sometimes that happens..." stated Sarah.

"I know." nodded Jake.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. Since they were at a theater, why not fight each other again?

"Togepi?" asked Sarah's Togepi. But she was too young to fight.

"Totodile?" inquired Sarah's Totodile. Perhaps she could stay on the sidelines.

Sarah's Togepi nodded. That would probably be for the best. Maybe someday she would be old enough to fight another Pokemon.

That was something she would be looking forward to.

Sarah and Jake both stepped onstage and nodded to each other.

They then pulled out a Pokeball.

Who was going to win? It wasn't certain.

 _I know that someone wanted Jake to fight Jerry, but it seems more appropriate for Jake to fight his friendly rival Sarah than for him to fight Jerry. Funny how Sarah is more likable than Jerry despite being a member of Team Shadow. I did make Lucy fight Jerry though since they were basically opposites._

 _I think I might have him battle Jerry at Olivine though. The Gym Leader at the Olivine City Gym is gone at the moment so no doubt he's going to be disappointed._


	24. Chapter 24: Early Halloween

__In this chapter, our heroes are going to try fighting Morty. He happens to be a ghost-type specialist. We can only hope that they are brave...and so are their Pokémon.__

 _Of course, this doesn't bode well for Ned. He's frightened of ghosts. But on the other hand, Chris will probably be fine. You probably know how strong she is. She's not going to let ghost Pokemon scare her._

 _We're also going to see Jake's battle with Sarah. That's something to look forward to, am I right?_

 **Chapter 24: Early Halloween**

"So, it looks like the next Gym Leader specializes in ghost Pokémon..." stated Chris. Personally she thought it was rather refreshing after fighting those cute normal Pokemon.

"Ghost Pokémon!?" exclaimed Ned.

Ned began to sweat.

Chris looked at Ned.

"You're not going to let some ghost Pokémon scare you, are you?" inquired the girl.

"O-of course not!" exclaimed Ned.

"Then why don't we enter the gym?" asked Chris.

Ned nodded reluctantly.

Together, the two of them entered the Gym.

They quickly noticed how foggy it was inside the gym.

Waiting for them was the Gym Leader.

"Are you here to challenge me?" asked Morty.

Chris and Ned nodded. They were hoping to collect their fourth gym badge. If they succeeded at beating Morty, then they would be halfway to the Johto Pokemon League.

"Alright then...which one of you wants to go first? By the way, have you noticed the Tin Tower in this city?" inquired the Gym Leader.

"Yeah...it's right of the burned one..." answered Ned.

"Personally I was hoping to meet Ho-Oh someday...it's a legendary bird that brings rainbows wherever it flies..." noted Morty.

"Interesting..." answered Chris. Perhaps they would meet Ho-Oh someday. They had met legendary Pokémon before, though so far they hadn't encountered any in Johto.

"Now where were we?" asked the Gym Leader.

"Well, since my friend Ned is currently chattering his teeth...I guess I'll go first." noted Chris.

Morty nodded.

Chris sent out Jigglypuff. It seemed like the balloon Pokemon was looking forward to challenging the Gym Leader, so she figured, why not?

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Jigglypuff.

Morty sent out Gastly.

"Gastly!" exclaimed the ghost Pokémon.

Gastly started off first, trying to lick Jigglypuff with his tongue.

However, it proved to be ineffective.

"I knew that you would try using ghost-type moves, so I brought Jigglypuff..." stated Chris.

"Smart..." nodded Morty. Ghost attacks had no effect on normal Pokémon.

However, it worked both ways. Normal attacks didn't hurt ghost Pokemon at all.

"You wouldn't happen to have taught Jigglypuff a move that can harm ghost types, could you?" inquired Morty. She couldn't win against him if her Pokemon's attacks didn't do any damage.

"As a matter of fact, I did. Try using Rollout, Jigglypuff." stated Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded and rolled into Gastly.

"Gastly!" exclaimed Gastly. Jigglypuff was like a wrecking ball. A pink, adorable, singing wrecking ball.

Unfortunately for Gastly, since he couldn't simply lick Jigglypuff (on account of Jigglypuff being a normal type), he was going to have to try a different tactic.

Morty had something in mind,

He had Gastly use Curse.

At the expense at about half his HP, Gastly cast a curse on Jigglypuff.

The curse began to negatively affect Jigglypuff.

Jigglypuff wondered why Curse worked differently for ghost Pokémon compared to other types of Pokémon.

It was strange.

Anyways, after being afflicted by Curse, Jigglypuff wasn't feeling too well.

If she didn't defeat Gastly quickly, chances are she was going to faint.

Jigglypuff used Rollout on Gastly again.

"Gastly!" exclaimed Gastly.

Gastly fainted. He simply could not take down Jigglypuff, especially considering her powerful singing voice which could induce slumber in a Pokemon in seconds. Not by himself anyway.

Since Gastly had fainted, Morty decided to send out Gastly's evolved form, Haunter.

"Haunt haunt!" exclaimed Morty's Haunter.

"Another member of the Gastly evolutionary line...ready, Jigglypuff?" asked Chris.

Jigglypuff nodded.

However, the curse was starting to wear her down.

Jigglypuff once again attacked with Rollout.

However, Haunter moved out of the way.

Haunter then used Sucker Punch on Jigglypuff, punching Jigglypuff with his right fist. For some strange reason even though Haunter did not have arms it happened to possess a pair of floating hands.

Jigglypuff was punched in the face and was knocked backwards.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Jigglypuff. For a ghost Haunter packed a mean punch.

"Try singing to it..." stated Chris.

Jigglypuff nodded and sang to Haunter.

Haunter fell asleep.

"Haunt..." said the now dozing Haunter.

However, at that very moment, Jigglypuff fainted. It seemed that the curse had done its work.

"I guess Jigglypuff couldn't take on three ghost Pokemon all by herself." thought Chris. Even Jigglypuff had her limits, though admittedly her Sing ability was useful against almost every Pokemon she encountered.

Chris withdrew Jigglypuff.

"I guess I'm going to have to send out a different Pokemon..." noted Chris.

Now that she thought of it...weren't ghost Pokemon weak to dark types?

If so, it would be a good idea to give Houndour a chance.

He did fairly well at Bugsy's gym on account of having a type advantage. Maybe he would do well at this gym as well considering he had a similar advantage over ghost types.

Chris sent out Houndour.

"Houndour, you think you can handle some poltergeists?" asked Chris.

"Houndour!" exclaimed Chris's Houndour. He was a brave Pokemon, so perhaps he COULD handle the ghosts.

Since Haunter was currently dozing, it looked like the Wolf Pokemon had an opportunity.

He decided to bite Haunter to see what would happen.

"Haunter!" exclaimed Morty's Haunter. That really hurt.

However, Haunter woke up in the process.

"That seemed to be effective." noted Chris.

Houndour grinned. It looked as he had the upper hand against his opponent.

In retaliation, Haunter launched a Shadow Ball at Houndour.

However, Houndour ducked underneath it.

He then bit Haunter again and Haunter fainted.

"Haunt..." said Morty's Haunter.

With only one Pokemon left to battle with, it looked like Morty was going to have to make his last Pokemon count.

"It looks like it's about time for me to send in Gengar..." noted Morty.

"I have a Gengar." pointed out Chris.

"I guess you know a lot about ghost types then..." noted the ghost type Gym Leader.

"I do...I'd rather collect gym badges than be a Gym Leader though." stated the girl.

Morty sent in Gengar.

"Can you handle it?" asked Morty.

Gengar nodded.

Gengar used Sucker Punch on Houndour.

But unfortunately for him, this didn't hurt Houndour much. It WAS a dark type, much like the move that had been used.

In retaliation, Houndour bit Gengar's arm.

"Gengar!" exclaimed Gengar. Houndour had sharp teeth despite his small size. It would explain why they were efficient hunters.

He then followed up by using Ember, spewing flames from his mouth.

"Gengar!" shouted the ghost type. Now he was burned.

"Not bad!" shouted Chris.

However, Gengar retaliated by using Mean Look on Houndour.

"Houndour!" exclaimed Chris's Houndour.

That was spooky.

Well, he couldn't expect anything else from a ghost type.

Taking advantage of Houndour's astonished state, Gengar then tossed a Shadow Ball at Houndour.

"Houndour!" exclaimed the dark Pokemon. Gengar packed a lot of power behind his attacks.

"Hang in there!" shouted Chris.

Houndour nodded. As long as Chris was on his side, he wasn't going to allow a ghost Pokemon to intimidate him.

He bit Gengar once again.

Gengar fainted.

"Gengar..." said Gengar. It looked like Houndour had shown him who was top Growlithe.

Morty applauded Chris.

"Congratulations. Here is your Fog Badge." said Morty.

Chris happily accepted her Fog Badge.

"Yes!" exclaimed Chris.

Now the question was which gym she should go to next.

Maybe she could try visiting the one in Mahogany? Then again the Gym Leader was probably out of town. There was something going on at the Lake Of Rage according to what she had seen on the news.

Ned went next, reluctantly.

"Are you ready?" asked Morty.

"Y-yes..." nodded Ned.

After healing his Pokemon, Morty sent out Gastly.

"Gastly!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon.

Hesistantly, Ned sent out Hoppip.

"Hoppip!" exclaimed Ned's Hoppip.

Hoppip looked around. It was kind of hard to see with all of the fog in the room.

"Gastly, use Lick!" instructed Morty.

Morty's Gastly nodded and licked Hoppip.

"Hoppip..." said Ned's Hoppip. That was scary.

Ned's face was turning pale.

"U-u-use Bullet Seed!" shouted Ned.

Ned's Hoppip nodded and spit several seeds at Gastly.

Ned clutched his head.

Morty raised an eyebrow.

"Should we continue this later?" asked Morty. Some Pokemon trainers got nervous whenever they encountered ghost Pokemonl it seemed that Ned was not an exception.

"I suppose..." nodded Ned.

Chris sighed.

"Did you really have to forfeit the match?" asked Chris. Surely Ned was braver than that.

"The ghost Pokemon were scary..." answered Ned. It looked like they had stepped right out of his nightmares.

Speaking of which, he heard that ghost Pokemon were capable of eating your dreams, much like a Drowzee.

"You're not going to make it far in the Pokemon League if you keep quitting like a coward..." stated the girl. To be honest, she didn't want to enter the Silver Conference alone.

"I just don't know how to deal with the ghosts..." said the boy.

"Why don't we visit the Burned Tower then? I'm sure that there are ghost Pokemon you can face off against..." pointed out Chris.

Ned gulped.

Reluctantly, he accompanied Chris into the tower.

Sure enough, there seemed to be ghost Pokemon inside the tower. Normally they showed up during the night time.

Ned began to sweat.

Suddenly, a Misdreavus approached him.

Apparently, she had taken a liking to the boy.

"Misdreavus..." said the wild Misdreavus.

"Huh?" asked Ned, turning around to look behind him.

His eyes widened and he let out a gasp.

"Oh no! It's after me!" screamed the boy.

Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Um, I don't think that ghost Pokemon is trying to scare you...as odd as it sounds." said Chris.

"Wait, it isn't?" asked Ned.

He was confused.

Ned scanned the ghost Pokemon with his Pokédex.

"Misdreavus, the Screech Pokemon. It has a tendency for mischief, and likes pulling and biting hair." said Ned's Pokédex.

Sure enough, Misdreavus seemed to be tugging at Ned's hair. It didn't hurt though.

"Huh. I guess this one isn't so scary..." noted Ned. Then again, it seemed to be in the minority.

"You know, the best way to study ghost Pokemon would be to catch one yourself..." remarked Chris.

Ned raised an eyebrow.

"Would you want to be my Pokemon?" asked Ned.

Misdreavus nodded.

Ned shrugged and pulled out a Dusk Ball. Misdreavus would likely like it in there.

Satisfied, Misdreavus went inside the Pokeball.

There was a rather familiar ding.

Ned sent out Misdreavus shortly afterwards.

"So...what do you like to do for fun?" asked Ned.

Misdreavus took Ned's glasses.

"Very funny..." said Ned.

Misdreavus gave Ned his glasses back. Though she liked pulling pranks she felt like she should have a measure for respect for her Pokemon Trainer.

"Anything else you want to tell me about you?" asked Ned.

Misdreavus flew straight through a wall, then came out the other side.

"You can fly through walls?" asked Ned.

Misdreavus nodded.

"I guess that explains why normal and fighting attacks have no effect on you..." noted Ned.

It then occurred to him that maybe he could use Misdreavus when he fought Morty again.

Ghost type Pokemon were super effective against each other, strange as it was. However, Misdreavus had decent Special Defense so perhaps she could tank a few Shadow Balls.

Either way, she would help him understand ghost Pokemon a bit more.

 _Meanwhile..._

Lucy decided to visit the Olivine Gym, only to discover that it was closed.

Apparently, the Gym Leader specialized in Steel type.

According to the Pokédex, Steel types were very good at defense, though that didn't necessarily mean that they had no weaknesses. Fire Pokemon worked well against them for example.

"What's going on?" asked Lucy. Where was the Gym Leader? Was she busy shopping? Personally she enjoyed shopping at the Goldenrod Department Center.

At that very moment, Jerry showed up. Lucy quickly noticed that he had an angry look on his face.

"Dang it!" exclaimed Jerry.

"I guess you wanted to battle the Gym Leader..." stated Lucy.

"Apparently she thinks looking after a Pokemon is more important than doing her job! She's at the Olivine Lighthouse looking after the sick Ampharos!" exclaimed Jerry.

"A sick Ampharos?" asked Lucy.

Personally the Gym Leader was reminding her of herself. She always took good care of her Clefairy.

Lucy pulled out the Olivine City tourist guide. Clefairy had taken one from the PokeMart.

Apparently, that Ampharos was powering the lighthouse.

If he wasn't able to do his job, Olivine City's harbor would be in a lot of trouble.

"I don't know, that Ampharos seems awfully important. You don't want ships to crash into sharp rocks, now do you?" asked Lucy,

Jerry sighed. Lucy DID make a good point, as much as he was looking forward to challenging the Gym Leader.

"I guess I'll try the gym in Cianwood City. I heard that the Gym Leader is super buff!" exclaimed Jerry.

He would love to meet someone like that.

With that, Jerry left.

 _Meanwhile..._

"Sentret, I choose you!" exclaimed Jake.

"Let's go, Sandshrew!" shouted Sarah.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the shrew Pokemon.

Sandshrew attacked first, rolling straight towards Sentret.

"Sentret!" exclaimed Jake's Sentret.

That really hurt.

Jake's Sentret tried attacking Sandshrew with Fury Swipes, but he had good defense. He wasn't getting hurt too much. Sandshrew's hide was definitely tough.

What was he going to do?

He decided to focus.

Suddenly, he began to evolve.

Sentret was now a Furret.

Jake applauded Furret for evolving for his Pokemon Trainer.

"Furret!" smiled Furret. He sure had evolved quickly. Then again, Sentrets were known to evolve at early levels.

Perhaps maybe now he would stand a better chance with Sandshrew. He remembered his last encounter with Sandshrew back at the Slowpoke Well.

Although, it didn't seem like there were any Pokemon at stake this time, though they WERE entertaining a live audience.

"It looks like we might not have the upper hand anymore..." noted Sarah.

Sandshrew tried focusing his energy to see if he would evolve.

It didn't work.

Apparently he wasn't ready yet.

"Keep trying, I'm sure you'll become a Sandslash eventually." noted Sarah.

Sandshrew nodded.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Furret was now too fast for him to handle. There was no striking the furry Pokemon with Rollout.

And to make matters worse, Furret was now capable of getting past his tough hide.

Furret struck Sandshrew several times with Fury Swipes.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed Sandshrew.

"Oh no! Sandshrew!" shouted Sarah.

Sandshrew fainted.

"Shrew..." said the fainted ground Pokemon.

Sarah withdrew her fainted Pokemon.

Togepi was disappointed. She was hoping that Sandshrew would win.

Apparently, Sarah was going to have to try something else.

Which Pokemon would work best against Furret?

Suddenly, she had an idea.

"Ekans! I choose you!" exclaimed Sarah.

Sarah sent out Ekans.

Furret quickly realized that he might be in trouble. Ekans was one of several Pokemon that a Sentret needed to be on the lookout for, not least because Ekans were known to be poisonous.

Granted, now that he was a Furret, he probably didn't need to worry about them too much anymore, but it was probably best to approach with caution.

"Ekans, use Wrap!" instructed Sarah.

Ekans nodded and lunged towards Furret.

Furret quickly leapt out of the way. It would be bad if Ekans managed to coil around him with her strong muscles.

And to make matters worse, his trainer wouldn't be able to switch him out if that happened.

"Furret, use Defense Curl!" exclaimed Jake.

Furret nodded and rolled up into a ball.

"Use Poison Sting!" shouted Sarah.

Ekans nodded and spat several poison needles from her mouth.

However, Furret's Defense Curl shielded him from the stings.

Jake sighed in relief.

"Now try using Fury Swipes!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Furret nodded and began to claw Ekans furiously.

"Ekans!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon.

However, Sarah had a nasty trick up her sleeve.

"Ekans, use Bite!" exclaimed Sarah.

Ekans nodded.

Suddenly, she sank her fangs into Furret's arm. Personally it reminded Totodile of when he first met.

"Furret!" exclaimed Jake's Furret.

Unfortunately for Furret, Ekans had successfully managed to poison him.

Already, he was starting to feel woozy.

"Furret..." said Jake's Furret.

"Use Quick Attack!" shouted Jake.

Jake's Furret nodded and rushed towards Ekans.

However, Ekans stretched out her coils and Furret tripped.

She then bit Furret on the leg.

Furret simply could not tolerate that much venom, so he fainted.

"Oh man..." said Jake.

"Togepi!" cheered Sarah's Togepi.

It looked like Sarah had managed to even the score.

"Good work, Ekans!" exclaimed Sarah.

Jake withdrew Furret and got ready to send out another Pokemon.

Maybe Cyndaquil will do the job.

"Go, Cyndaquil!" exclaimed Jake.

 _I figured that Chris has a ghost Pokemon (which has fully evolved since this point), why not have Ned catch one too? I figure it would be ironic since ghost Pokemon frighten him. But of course, this Misdreavus isn't so frightening. Not to him anyway._

 _I also figured it would be a good way to continue the gag of female Pokemon falling for Ned._

 _Alternatively he could try using his Hoothoot. She's a bird of the night so chances are she would know how to deal with ghosts._

 _In other news, Jake successfully evolved his Sentret. I figured he would evolve quickly._

 _Who will win the battle, Jake or Sarah?_

 _I'll continue the fight in the next chapter, I suppose._


	25. Chapter 25: The Legendary Dogs

_In this chapter, Sarah's going to catch another Pokemon! I figured she could use a fire type since she already has two water types. Of course, she'll finish her battle with Jake first._

 **Chapter 25: The Legendary Dogs**

Since the Olivine Gym Leader was currently looking after a sick Ampharos, Lucy decided that she would challenge the Gym Leader in Ecruteak City instead. Hopefully he was currently at the gym. Otherwise she wasn't sure which Gym Leader she would face next.

It seemed like a good idea.

Immediately, she set foot inside the gym.

She quickly noticed how foggy it was inside the gym. Did somebody forget to turn on the fan?

However, she could still make the Gym Leader out even with all the fog. It seemed that he didn't want to make it too difficult for them to get through his gym.

"Another challenger? Alright then...since I'm feeling rather generous, I'll go first." stated Morty.

Lucy noted that seemed fair since he had likely been a Pokemon Trainer for longer than she had.

Morty sent out Gastly.

"Gas gas!" exclaimed Gastly.

"Gastly's a poison type, right? I might know how to deal with him..." noted Lucy.

Lucy sent out her Dugtrio. Professor Oak had been complaining about him building too many trenches so she decided to take him out of his hands for the time being.

"Try using Magnitude!" exclaimed Lucy.

"That won't work." answered Morty.

"Huh?" asked the girl.

Curious, she noticed that Gastly seemed to be levitating. Basically, he was a flying type.

"Oh." said the girl.

So much for exploiting Gastly's ground type weakness.

And to make matters worse, Dugtrio couldn't simply slash Gastly with his claws. They would simply go right through him.

"What should we do?" asked Lucy.

"Dugtrio Dugtrio!" exclaimed Dugtrio.

But as it turned out, there was still hope.

"Wait, you learned a dark move recently?" asked Lucy.

Dugtrio nodded. Since Digletts typically lived in caverns, he figured, why not?

"Alright then...why don't you try it out?" inquired the girl.

Dugtrio used Night Slash.

"Gastly!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon. That really hurt.

Gastly responded by attempting to wrap Dugtrio with his tongue.

However, the three Digletts quickly separated in order to avoid it.

"I guess being able to move a mile per minute has its perks." noted Lucy. If she could move that fast, she'd be able to get a lot of errands done pretty quickly.

Dugtrio nodded. They could flee from the first sign of trouble. However, most of the Pokemon living inside the cavern were other Digletts and Dugtrios, so they hardly ever ran into trouble.

They then hit Gastly with Night Slash again.

Gastly fainted.

"Gastly..." said the fainted ghost Pokemon, who had fallen to the ground.

Morty withdrew Gastly and sent out Haunter.

"This is going to be a bigger challenge." noted Lucy.

Dugtrio found that to be acceptable.

Haunter launched a Shadow Ball at Dugtrio.

Dugtrio ducked underneath it and night slashed Haunter.

"Haunter!" exclaimed Morty's Haunter.

In retaliation, he attempted to hypnotize Dugtrio.

However, he only succeeded in hypnotizing one of the Digletts.

The other two Digletts quickly woke him up.

"Trio?" inquired the Diglett.

They then used Night Slash on Haunter again.

"Haunt..." said the fainted ghost Pokemon.

"It looks like we have the upper hand...wait, do you even have hands?" asked Lucy.

"Dugtrio..." said the trio Pokemon.

However, Dugtrio was starting to feel tired after taking down two Pokemon in a row.

"Trio..." said Dugtrio. If he weren't in the middle of a fight, he probably would have gone underground to take a nap by now.

Morty sent out Gengar.

Dugtrio tried using Night Slash, but Gengar was fast enough to avoid it.

Gengar then hit Dugtrio with Shadow Ball.

"Trio!" exclaimed Dugtrio. It seemed that Gengar was actually fast enough to keep up with him.

On the lighter side of things, Dugtrio successfully slashed him with Night Slash.

However, Gengar then struck Dugtrio with Sucker Punch.

Dugtrio fainted.

"Who should I send next?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy." said Lucy's Clefairy.

"Hmm? You're familiar with ghost types?" questioned the girl.

Clefairy nodded. There were ghost Pokemon living in space.

"Huh. I guess they don't need oxygen..." noted Lucy.

Clefairy shook her head.

Lucy decided to have Clefairy step up to the plate.

Clefairy smiled.

Clefairy used Metronome.

She came up with Psychic.

Gengar took a beating.

"Gengar!" exclaimed Morty's Gengar. Apparently, when you were as smart as Pokemon As Clefairy was, you were good at using psychic attacks.

"There's no hitting Clefairy with Shadow Ball...try using Sucker Punch!" exclaimed Morty.

Morty nodded.

However, Clefairy's small frame made her difficult to hit.

Morty sighed.

It looked like he might lose this matchup. Lucy DID have one more Pokemon after this, after all.

Well, it was best to go down fighting if you had to go down.

Morty had Gengar use Sucker Punch again.

Clefairy was punched in the face.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"Hang in there!" nodded Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded.

Clefairy used Metronome again, and hit Gengar with Psybeam.

Gengar fainted.

"Good job. Here is your Fog Badge." said Morty.

Lucy nodded.

Now it was time to look for Jake.

He was still fighting Sarah.

Unfortunately for Sarah, Ekans could not simply wrap herself around Cyndaquil...there were flames on his back that would most likely burn her if she tried.

Granted, she could probably shed her skin if she wanted to heal some burns, but it was better safe than sorry.

She was going to have to try something else.

"Maybe you can try stinging him?" asked Sarah. It would be helpful if she managed to poison her opponent.

Ekans nodded and fired several poison needles from her mouth. That didn't seem like a bad idea since it meant keeping her distance from Cyndaquil's flames.

However, Cyndaquil reacted quickly and rolled into a ball.

As he did so, he was surrounded by flames.

This gave Jake an idea.

"Have you ever thought of igniting yourself then rolling into your opponent? You and Sandshrew are a lot alike now that I think of it..." noted Jake.

Cyndaquil noted that WAS true.

He used Flame Wheel to attack Ekans.

Unfortunately for Ekans, she was caught by surprise.

Cyndaquil scored a critical hit.

"Ekans!" exclaimed Ekans in astonishment.

After being hit by Cyndaquil's Flame Wheel attack, Ekans was feeling rather woozy.

"You alright, Ekans?" asked Sarah.

Ekans wasn't sure.

Ekans tried using Bite, but she fell over before she could reach Cyndaquil.

Cyndaquil then used Quick Attack.

Ekans fainted.

"Ekans..." stated the fainted snake Pokemon.

"Maybe I should use Totodile." thought Sarah.

He seemed like he would be a good counter to Cyndaquil.

However, when she turned around, she noticed that Totodile was gone.

As it turned out, he was trying to prevent Togepi from entering the Kimono Girls' dressing room.

Apparently she thought that wearing one of those would be fun. She DID enjoy dancing.

Sarah then remembered the Pokemon she had caught on the way to Ecruteak.

"Oh, right...I caught that Pokemon recently..." noted Sarah.

Sarah decided that she was going to send out Sudowoodo.

"Sudowoodo, I choose you!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Sudowoodo!" shouted Sudowoodo.

Jake raised an eyebrow.

"You're using a grass type against my fire type? I was under the impression that you would use Totodile next..." noted Jake.

Currently, Totodile was trying to prevent Togepi from putting on makeup.

Sarah noted that apparently Jake did not realize the truth about Sudowoodo.

Well, he would find out...eventually.

Jake instructed Cyndaquil to use Flame Wheel again.

However, when he did so, Sudowoodo hardly seemed to feel it.

"Sudowoodo?" asked Sudowoodo. He felt like a Pidgey had pecked him. Sometimes they did that. He hardly noticed though.

"What?!" exclaimed Jake. Sudowoodo had hardly been hurt at all. Surely a grass type would have felt that, right?

That was more than they can be said for Cyndaquil. It seemed like he had bumped his head and was feeling woozy.

"Use Rock Throw!" exclaimed Sarah.

"Rock Throw?!" shouted Jake.

Sudowoodo nodded and hurled pointy rocks at Cyndaquil.

Cyndaquil fainted.

Jake wondered what was going on.

He decided to send out Golbat. Maybe a flying type could make this tree Pokemon fall.

Sudowoodo smiled. Once again he had the advantage. He knew how to shoot a flying Pokemon down...though of course, they hardly disturbed him back when he was in the wild. He was happy to carry a bird nest every now and then. It made him feel special.

"Golbat, use Air Cutter!" exclaimed Jake.

Golbat nodded and launched some wind currents at Sudowoodo.

However, Sudowoodo was hardly phased.

"No way!" exclaimed Jake.

Sudowoodo retaliated by tossing a big heavy rock at Golbat.

Golbat took a nasty hit.

"Oh no..." thought Jake.

He instructed Golbat to use Swift.

However, the stars bounced off of Sudowoodo.

"This is one tough Pokemon..." noted Jake.

Sudowoodo tossed more rocks at Golbat.

Golbat fainted.

"We have a winner!" exclaimed the referee.

Sarah and Sudowoodo cheered.

Jake sighed.

Totodile and Togepi came back. However, Totodile was now covered with makeup.

"You Ok?" asked Sarah.

Totodile nodded. He had really gotten in touch with his feminine side.

Togepi handed Totodile a handkerchief. Perhaps she wanted to apologize for the trouble she caused.

Happy that her trainer won, Togepi gave Sarah a hug.

"Togepi!" exclaimed Sarah's Togepi.

Personally, Sarah wondered what Pokemon Togepi evolved into. Right now, she was only a baby.

"I don't get it...how did your Pokemon shrug off my attacks?" asked Jake.

"Well, to be honest. It isn't a grass type. It's a rock type." answered Sarah.

"Really?" inquired the boy.

Sudowoodo nodded. He had come to terms with his identity as a rock type Pokemon.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you." answered Sarah.

Sarah left along with Totodile and Togepi.

She noticed that several Team Shadow Grunts were gathered outside the Burned Tower.

"What are you all doing here?" asked Sarah.

"The admin wanted us to go inside the tower while she went to the other one..." explained one of the Grunts.

"I see..." nodded the girl.

She wondered what she was up to.

As it turned out, the admin had disguised herself as a monk.

She was planning to steal the Rainbow Wing. Her employer would be very happy to have something so precious.

After his battle with Sarah, Jake went to see the Gym Leader.

However, he had a problem on his hands.

"I'm afraid I'm not accepting Gym Battle requests right now. There's trouble at the Burned Tower..." said Morty.

"Is it Team Shadow? I remember them from the Slowpoke Well..." spoke Jake.

Morty nodded.

However, he wondered why the Team Shadow Grunts were going for the Burned Tower when they could be going for the Tin Tower.

It seemed like the Tin Tower was a lot more ideal for looting. Perhaps they didn't feel like stealing from old men?

"I guess I should help..." noted Jake.

Jake went to fetch Lucy.

"Is something the matter?" asked Lucy.

"It's Team Shadow..." stated Jake. It seemed that they were causing trouble again.

"You mean the crooks from the Slowpoke Well?" inquired the girl.

"Clefairy..." said Lucy's Clefairy. Those guys were bad news. They made her reconsider being a kleptomaniac.

"I guess we should do something." answered Jake. Officer Jenny could only do so much against a large criminal organization like Team Shadow.

Lucy nodded.

Together, the two of them went to the Burned Tower.

Meanwhile, Sarah was looking at the large hole in the floor.

"Hey! Be careful not to-"

Sarah lost her balance and fell in.

"-fall in." warned the Team Shadow Grunt.

Luckily, Sarah didn't hurt herself.

"How do I get back up here?" asked Sarah.

At that very moment, a wild Slugma approached her.

"A Slugma?" asked Sarah.

The Slugma nodded.

Sarah scanned the Slugma with her Pokédex.

"Slugma, the Lava Pokemon. It must keep moving, or else it will cool down and solidify!" said Sarah's Pokédex.

Sure enough, it seemed that Slugma had hardened.

"You Ok?" asked Sarah.

Slugma nodded. Sometimes that happened.

The slug Pokemon started moving again and heated up once more.

According to the Pokédex, Slugma could be any gender they wanted to be. They were a peculiar Pokemon that way. However, they typically chose to be male or female sooner or later.

"So...what gender do you want to be?" asked Sarah.

Since this was the first time Slugma met a human, the lava Pokemon chose to be female like her.

"So, what brings you to a place like this?" questioned the girl.

"Slugma." said the slug Pokemon. She heard that Entei was in the area and decided to pay a visit. After all, Entei was the reason why Pokemon like Slugma existed.

Curious, Sarah decided to approach the trio.

However, when they saw Sarah, the three Legendary Dogs bolted.

"Where are they going?" asked Sarah.

Slugma sighed. It seemed that the trio scared easily.

Although to be fair, if she got too close to Suicune, chances are she would begin to cool down. Each of the Legendary dogs radiated their element on account of being so powerful.

"I'm sorry..." apologized Sarah.

"Slugma..." answered the slug Pokemon. It was alright.

Although...now that she thought of it, maybe traveling would be fun. The three dogs did it a lot. In fact, so did the Legendary Birds. They had been spotted flying all across the sky. Generally they preferred an environment that matched their tastes however.

Slugma looked at one of Sarah's Pokeballs.

"You're not going to melt the Pokeball, right? You seem kind of hot..." questioned Sarah. After all, Slugmas were made out of molten rock, though they weren't actually rock types.

"Slugma." said the wild Slugma. Pokeballs could handle fire starter Pokemon just fine...so theoretically it could withstand hot temperatures, even if Slugmas were basically made from molten rock.

"OK, I'll trust your judgment on that." answered Sarah. Slugma seemed like a smart Pokemon.

Sarah tossed the Pokeball at Slugma.

Slugma yawned. Though Slugmas and their evolution never slept, they were capable of yawning surprisingly well.

Within a few seconds, Slugma was caught.

"I guess I'll use her against an ice type..." noted Sarah. Or maybe a grass type. It depended on which one she was facing off against.

She decided to climb back up the ladder.

As it turned out, some police officers had entered the tower.

"Oh no..." thought Sarah.

It looked like her comrades were in danger of being arrested.

She quickly pulled out a Pokeball.

 _Meanwhile..._

"Are you feeling better about facing the Gym Leader?" asked Chris.

Ned nodded.

"Good! I don't want you to give up on your Pokemon journey..." noted the girl. He had done so well back at Kanto.

"Yeah..." nodded Ned.

Chris sent out her Spinarak.

"You're sending out your Spinarak?" asked Ned.

"Just wanted to see your reaction." answered Chris.

Ned shrugged.

However, when they visit the gym, they found that it was closed.

Chris groaned.

"I'm sure he'll be back eventually." assured Ned.

"I hope." answered Chris.

Curious, Ned noticed that there was a cave nearby.

Perhaps they could train their Pokemon there?

As soon as they entered, they noticed a familiar face.

"Karate Master Kiyo? Is that you?" asked Ned.

Kiyo nodded.

"I seem to recall you being in Saffron City..." noted the boy.

"Sometimes I go here in order to train my Pokemon." explained the black belt.

"Oh." answered Ned. That made sense.

"Speaking of which, how about a Pokemon Battle?" asked the man.

Ned nodded. Why not?

Predictably, Kiyo sent out Hitmonchan.

Ned decided to send out Hoothoot.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Ned's Hoothoot.

"Using a flying type? Smart. But I have ways to work around that." answered Kiyo.

"Huh?" asked Ned.

"Hoothoot?" inquired Ned's Hoothoot.

Suddenly, Hitmonchan hit Hoothoot with Thunder Punch.

"Hoothoot!" exclaimed Hoothoot.

Hoothoot tried using Confusion, but Hitmonchan was too fast for her.

Before she could use the move, Hitmonchan hit Hoothoot with Ice Punch.

It was bad enough that she was zapped, but now she felt cold.

However, she would be quickly warmed up when Hitmonchan hit Hoothoot with Fire Punch.

"I'm starting to think that this is a mismatch." noted Ned.

However, Hoothoot wasn't inclined to give up so easily.

She did want to become stronger for the sake of her trainer. Maybe he could use her against Morty.

She was starting to feel something awaken inside of her.

Suddenly, Hoothoot began to evolve.

"Huh?" asked Ned.

Hoothoot became a Noctowl.

"Good job!" exclaimed the boy.

"Noctowl!" cheered Ned's Noctowl.

Ned scanned his new Noctowl with his Pokedex.

"Noctowl, the Owl Pokemon. Noctowl is an excellent hunter, mainly due to its ability to see in the dark and its skills at stealth." read Ned's Pokedex.

"Interesting..." said Ned.

 _I figured it would be fun to use Pokemon abilities such as Levitate. I feel like it would make the Pokemon Battles more interesting._

 _Of course, I don't think they had them in Generation II, now did they?_

 _I decided to have Sarah use her Sudowoodo since there's no point in letting him go to waste._

 _As a side note, I think I'll make Jake's Golbat evolve into a Crobat. I figured that would be cool._

 _I also had Sarah catch a Slugma since lava is known to be destructive. For some strange reason they only seem to exist in Kanto even though they debuted in Generation II._

 _Since Ned used his Hoothoot in two Gym Battles, I figured why not have Hoothoot evolve into Noctowl?_

 _I'll be seeing you._


End file.
